We Don’t Need Another Theory: or proverb?

Debra Asis
3 min readJun 14, 2024

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Photograph by rivage

We live in an odd time when both workaholism and work-evasion are epidemic in our offices, assembly lines and shop floors. Philosophers and consultants present us with one ‘work ethic’ after another, and each theoretical house-of-cards stands for a day as a fad. Mike Aquilina & Kris Stubna

When I was I child I heard
“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop”
determined to dodge wrath
of teachers father God devil
while silently day dreaming
I feigned business

When I was a youngish adult I heard
“The horse is made ready for the battle, but victory rests with the Lord” determined to win
prove my stealthy worth
attacking and defending
with sharp-edged words
I spent my life
depending on me

When I was an older adult I heard
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not men”
determined to be whatever it means
“work with all my heart”
I failed ate dirt discovered
work does not depend on me
rather on consent
to Ultimate Reality

Today, an even older adult, I hear
“For nothing will be impossible with God”
determined to embody
wisdom born by heart
I bow to the infinite generosity of words
written of my Better Part

Poem by Debra Asis
(Texts quoted Proverbs 16.27, 21.31, Col 3.23, Luke 1.37)

You may also like To Want What God Wants: you
or
Wisdom Calls: dark to dark

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Mike Aquilina & Kris Stubna’s quote is found in today’s selection in An Ignatian Book of Days by Jim Manney, SJ, a series of daily reflections from the Spiritual Wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Throughout the book we hear the voices of St. Ignatius as well as many great thinkers and writers, long gone and present day, each uniquely revealing the way of finding God in all things. And that is my intention; to find God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality in whatever presents itself to me each day in 2024.

Each day I read, reflect and write on the selection, hoping to articulate the ways in which I come to know God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality via personal experience, impelled by the leading of my inner life.

INVITATION

Would you like to join me? The book is accessible on Amazon. Let me know in the comments to this post and sign up to get an email whenever I post. I would love to read your reflections too, public or private messages welcome!

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Learn more about me at
https://www.debraasis.org

All words are generated by grace and the grit of a real human being,
Debra Asis writing challenge

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Debra Asis

Noticing Ordinary Holiness along the way I aim to read the gospel of life in nature, poetry, art and every messy moment of my ordinary life.