I decided several years ago, after being employed for many years, to strike out on my own and to become independent. The good news is that today I'm my own boss - I can decide when to wake up, when to go to the office, and when to go on vacation. The bad news is that I'm living with the boss all the time. And sometimes he's a bit overbearing.

I find that my work tends to consume me. When I wake up and when I go to sleep - work is on my mind. The ups and the downs - they're always there. My wife and 6 kids get some attention, though I'm not sure if they would refer to it as quality time.

And of course, there is an endless amount of work to do. There is always something to do next: something to plan, short-term or long-term, some documents to be writing and evaluating and re-writing, and some crisis to either avert or overcome.

It dawned on me that my work will take up most of my adult life.

For most of my waking hours during most of my adult years I am engrossed in my work. I guess that is not uncommon. But if so, then where is God in this time-consuming and life-consuming endeavor? Is my relationship with God only, or primarily, to be experienced while praying or studying, while the vast majority of my life is spent not there - but at work?

In Hebrew the word "work" is "melacha" - which comes from the same word as "mal'ach" - an angel. Work & Angels - What's the connection? I don't just go to work; I go to listen to my angels. In English, the word "vocation" is connected to the Latin word for "vocal". At work, I am being summoned or called.

I focus my first moments of work on - the calling. What am I being called to do? What am I listening for? It only takes a few moments to tune in, but it is like a saying a blessing before eating - it has the power to transform the whole experience.

This morning I thanked God for giving me this opportunity of work. For the opportunity of being in touch with the people I will come into contact with today. Today I'm going to try and acknowledge the people who play a part in my blessing.

I do want to be successful. I do want to make a living. But I also want to turn my work into my calling, and listen to where that has the power to take me.

Bringing God into my soul and bringing my soul into my work makes it a lot easier to live with the boss.

Question for Reflection

If you took a few moments to compose a blessing for your work, what would you say?

(Send it to us and we'll publish it in the next newsletter - maybe it will help some other people.)

By Emma Sass, Israel

Spiritual moment at work? Well, for the last two years, I have not been working and so couldn't comply. Or so I initially thought.

Two years ago I was blessed with the most incredible gift from God. For many complicated reasons, I had long given up any dream of becoming a mother. But no matter, since I never particularly wanted to take on the role either.

It was a very stressful pregnancy so I couldn't get excited. At various points doctors were concerned about the possibility of a "fetal abnormality," despite all the tests we'd done to prove otherwise. I was a wreck and couldn't plan for the baby. 

Yet somewhere, deep, deep, deep in the lower echelons of my heart, nay my neshama, this was something I desperately wanted and was just too terrified to engage. I davened and learned Pirke Avot fervently, daily, reading chapters of Tehilim (Psalms) I didn't understand. I cried as I beseeched God to bless me with a healthy child since I knew the gate of tears would never be slammed in my face. I was nicer to people. I was more patient. I stopped in the street and engaged neighbors I usually ignored while walking my dog. I spoke less and listened more. I was mellower on the outside as my insides broke down in fear and total vulnerability before my creator.

Up until the last moment of the pregnancy - while I was in labor and the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat - I never imagined I would be a mother. It couldn't be. 

But it was. And Golan Moshe Sass was born perfectly healthy in every way through the angels and God in heaven 2 days before Rosh Hashanah 5768.

But that's not even my spiritual moment. The "spiritual moment I have experienced at work," happens to me every moment of every single day since this neshama was entrusted to my husband and me. It comes as loud and clear, even 2 years later, every time I go into the store and buy a package of diapers. And it hasn't quieted at all.

It happens when I watch him blink; when he rubs his nose as he's getting tired; when he arches his back so I can pull up his pants; when he giggles; when he says "ba-bye"; when my husband plays ball with him and he throws like it's the most natural thing in the world. How has he been able to make mothering the easiest, most stress-free, beautiful experience for someone who has lived nearly four decades of her life in the most opposite way?

This is my work. I will never see it as "lesser" - spiritually or intellectually - than any other work.