Continued. . .from her book ‘The Holiness of Everyday Life’ (under the above title), Joan B. MacDonald, wrote:
(From a previous post. . . .) We are accustomed to thinking of God as revealing himself through prayer, scripture study, dreams and visions, and even history—but through work? Well, of course. We need only remember how God reveals himself most often. Think Moses, Joseph Smith, Abraham, Lehi, Nephi, Ruth, Mary, your bishop, or your visiting teacher; God most often reveals himself through the lives, actions, and words of people. Workplaces therefore are a veritable treasure-house. They are not only filled with people, but they are also filled with many kinds of people. Work is often the only place where we are exposed to any cultural diversity. Because of that diversity, God can reveal himself to us in new and sometimes surprising or challenging ways.
I live in a ward in the suburbs of Boston. Over the years I’ve seen six or seven bishops come and go. Most of them have been successful businessmen. Many of them have been required to travel extensively in relation to their work. I remember two of them relating stories of personal encounters in foreign lands that profoundly affected their spiritual lives. One bishop told of spending a week in Mexico with a Mexican executive and his family. The man was highly successful, wealthy, powerful, intelligent, and articulate. He was also a devout Catholic and was deeply committed to his family. He and our bishop had several long discussions about the importance of the family and the need to keep work and family commitments in balance. The second bishop spent a week in India with a similarly successful Hindu man. They also spent time discussing the importance of devotion to God and family. In addition, they discussed the responsibility of wealth and position. Our bishop discovered that his Hindu counterpart was deeply involved in helping solve some of India’s social problems. Both bishops came home from their travels humbled and challenged to increase their commitments to the Lord and to their families.
Cultural diversity can also result in exposure to ideas, perspectives, and ways of being that we might not otherwise encounter or consider. Diversity can challenge us to alter or expand our world view, to reassess our understanding of how Cod works with all of his children. It can shed fresh new light on basic assumptions with which we’ve become overly comfortable. Finally, diversity can bring us face-to-face with people who, without the benefit of the Church, have reached a level of spiritual maturity that dwarfs our own and through whom we might suddenly see the essence of true religion. We may be meeting in a conference room, conversing with a friend during our morning break, lecturing in front of a class, or laying pipe at a construction site when something is said or done, and—surprise!—like Paul on the road to Damascus or Jacob in the desert wrestling with an angel, we see something we never saw before, or have a problem we never had before. Because nonmembers and non-Christians express themselves with different words or interpret their experiences in different ways, or, sometimes, because their experiences or understanding are so similar to ours even though they are not members of the Church, they can open our minds and hearts to new ideas, new feelings, new insights, and understanding. They can even open our minds and hearts to see God. ~Joan B. Mac Donald, The Holiness of Everyday Life (Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1995) 9-10
