Finding Hope in Ezekiel to Combat Workplace Brokenness — Nashville Institute for Faith and Work

We all love our work, but there are aspects of every job that drive dissatisfaction.

While it’s easier to embrace work when we are satisfied, what is your thought process when things go awry at work?

As you ponder the the day-to-day stresses and frustrations of working in your specific company and/or industry, do you take time to think about ways you can leave your workplace better each day?

While there are surely aspects of your day-to-day work that are fulfilling, in fact, we assert that the broken areas of work demand responses and action rather than side-eyed complaints over the watercooler amongst coworkers.

Sitting in the tension of knowing you were created to work all the while feeling its toil calls to mind Ezekiel 37:1-10 and the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.

In the passage, God reveals how He both keeps his promises for redemption and resurrection and uses the Spirit in us to breathe life into the dry and barren areas of existence.

It’s easy to think of the ways our vocations appear to be valleys of dry bones. Bones themselves represent something that once was—something that once contained inherent meaning, calling, and purpose.

But the dry and scattered wasteland of bones we see serves as a reminder that brokenness touches every area of our vocations, and it can often feel overwhelming to consider the brokenness and our needed reponses.

Our contributions to push back the darkness in our project, our department, our company or even our industry can more often than not feel like a drop in the proverbial bucket. So why bother fixing things like unhealthy staff meetings, water cooler gossip, indirect communication channels, broken evaluation processes, or even greed and inequality?

First, we must embrace work for work’s sake, and to embrace that we were created to do creative and/or redemptive work.

And second, we must embrace that we are called and equipped by God to bring about flourishing by pushing against the broken areas.

The power of our words to speak life into areas of our work is powerful. And God calls us to it.

So how are you wrestling and engaging with the broken parts of your daily workplace? Are you salt and light? Or are you at the water cooler?