How Can We Live Extraordinarily in Our Ordinary Life?
By Siyuan
One day, after work, I was at the bus station, waiting for a bus so I could go home. Looking at the quick steps and weary looks of pedestrians and hearing people around me complaining about the injustices in the work and talking about their colleagues’ gossip, I suddenly thought of my past self and my thoughts returned to the former days when I struggled through the fog.
My parents were common peasants. My father was poorly educated and made a living as a driver to support our family. He worked in car every day, and this job was dirty and tiring. My mother graduated from high school and had some cultural knowledge, but she didn’t have the opportunity to cast off the poor peasant life. I didn’t want to be as ordinary as they were. Thereupon, I quietly made a resolution in my heart: I will study diligently, and then in the future I must get into a college, stand out among others and break away from this poor and tiring life.
In November 2013, it was a cold winter then. I finished all my college courses and entered into the intern phase a half year ahead of time. I had originally thought that my desire to stand out could be achieved after I graduated and found a job, which was in line with my specialty; however, the fact was really not as wonderful as I imagined. Every day I went out early and returned late: I took the crowded buses to keep attending interviews in every large job fair and different companies; meanwhile, I sent several resumes on major job-search websites. Yet in the end, almost all companies refused me due to my lack of qualifications and work experience; some companies let me go back for a response, but eventually none of them gave me a reply.
To resolve the problem of survival, I had to find a job first to support myself. During that time, I worked as a receptionist, a clerk, and also worked as a saleswoman and a cashier, but I always despised these jobs in my heart as I thought they couldn’t be looked up to by others. Therefore, I had done several jobs, yet I didn’t work for a long time: The shortest time was one month, and the longest wasn’t over three months. And then I jumped ship to another one. With the lapse of time, several months passed, but I still couldn’t find a job that suited me. Every day I dragged my exhausted body to my rental house and the moment I lay on the bed, I was full of forlornness and desolation. I couldn’t help but ask myself: In this large city, what on earth am I seeking after?
Just as I felt downhearted for the road ahead, a friend gave me a call, which made my confused life better, and also ended those days when I wandered and struggled in a strange city. In the local area, there was a giant industrial paper mill. At the introduction of my friend, I entered the accounting department of this mill. I quietly resolved: I must make the effort to work to get recognition from my leader so that I can have a good development in the future.
However, because I just left school and didn’t know anything, I lacked principles of conduct and associating with others and experience. Because I didn’t know the responsibilities of my work well, the amount of my work increased a lot, so I had to work overtime day and night; because I didn’t know how to read the meaning hidden in a person’s facial expression, my colleagues plotted against me; also because I lacked proficiency and made errors frequently in my work, I was always reprimanded by my leader…. During that time, I truly felt a lot of pressure. Every day my mental state was being strained, and I even dreamt about my work when I was sleeping. Sometimes when I woke up with a start, I would suddenly feel I had missed some important thing or part, and would go to the mill hurriedly the next morning to check on it. I didn’t feel a bit of reassurance until that was confirmed.
In the face of the tremendous work pressure and complex human relationships, many times I had tried to resign, but then I thought: “Nowadays it’s so hard for graduates to get a job. Now, with difficulty, I’ve found a job for which I’m trained. In addition, the mill where I’m working is huge and is well-known locally, so there will definitely be a lot of space for me to be promoted later. Furthermore, if others know I’m working there, they will look at me in a new light. Therefore, I can’t resign!” Just through time after time of such struggles, I persuaded myself and persevered.
Two years later, I was promoted to purchasing accountant. I was appreciated and thought highly of by my leader and also approved by the people around me. Moreover, my boss promised me that as long as I stayed with the mill, he would give me enough advancement opportunities and cultivate me, which satisfied my vanity. However, at that time I didn’t feel a shred of joy: I was under various work pressures and was bound by all kinds of complex relationships every day. What’s more, due to the fatigue of work every day, I suffered from severe cervical spondylosis. So I truly felt very tired and depressed after a day’s work, and I was even very afraid of walking into the mill. Many times I felt a sudden impulse to resign, but I was unwilling to put aside the results of my efforts, as well as others’ compliments and admiration to me, much less the good prospects which were waving at me ahead. In this way, I struggled and hesitated in suffering time after time …
Right when I was in pain and confusion, it was God’s words that released me from confusion and allowed me to understand the source of my painful life. The word of God says, “Satan uses a very subtle kind of method, a method very much in concert with people’s notions, which is not at all radical, through which it causes people to unknowingly accept its way of living, its rules to live by, and to establish life goals and their direction in life, and in doing so they also unknowingly come to have ambitions in life. No matter how grand these life ambitions may seem, they are inextricably linked to ‘fame’ and ‘gain.’ Everything that any great or famous person—all people, in fact—follow in life relates only to these two words: ‘fame’ and ‘gain.’ People think that once they have fame and gain, they can then capitalize on those things to enjoy high status and great wealth, and to enjoy life. They think fame and gain are a kind of capital that they can use to obtain a life of pleasure-seeking and wanton enjoyment of the flesh. For the sake of this fame and gain which mankind so covets, people willingly, albeit unknowingly, hand over their bodies, minds, all that they have, their futures and their destinies, to Satan. They do so without even a moment’s hesitation, ever ignorant of the need to recover all that they have handed over. Can people retain any control over themselves once they have taken refuge in Satan in this way and become loyal to it? Certainly not. They are completely and utterly controlled by Satan. They have completely and utterly sunk into a quagmire, and are unable to free themselves. Once someone is mired in fame and gain, they no longer seek that which is bright, that which is righteous, or those things that are beautiful and good. This is because the seductive power that fame and gain have over people is too great; they become things for people to pursue throughout their lives and even for all eternity without end. Is this not true?”
God’s words have exposed the source of my painful life very clearly. I reflected on what I had seen, heard, and learned along the way, which all taught me how to seek after fame and fortune, how to stand out from the crowd and to excel over others. So all along, I wanted to cast off my ordinary life and realize my desire to stand out through studying and getting into college; driven by the views such as “People struggle to go upward, but water flows downward,” and “getting ahead and being on top,” I disdained the ordinary jobs, so I frequently changed my job; after getting a job which I personally thought was decent, I worked desperately for earning recognition and admiration from my leader and colleagues. Under complex personal relationships and heavy work pressure, I was left with severe cervical spondylosis at an early age. All of these made me feel exhausted physically and mentally, living in unbearable pain. In fact, I didn’t live for myself at all, but for gazes and admiration of other people, and for satisfying my vanity. Wasn’t it just Satan’s trickery and affliction? If God’s words didn’t reveal Satan’s wickedness and ugliness, I would have still been blinded by Satan’s thoughts and views, and would have continued struggling in the mire of pursuing fame and gain, living in unbearable pain.
Later on, I saw God’s assessment of Job, “Despite his prestigious standing and status, he had never loved nor paid these things any attention; he cared not how others viewed his standing, nor was he concerned about whether his actions or conduct would have any negative effect on his standing; he did not indulge in the blessings of status, nor did he enjoy the glory that came with status and standing. He only cared about his value and the significance of his living in the eyes of Jehovah God. Job’s true self was his very essence: He did not love fame and fortune, and did not live for fame and fortune; he was true, and pure, and without falsity.”
From God’s words, I understood: Back then, Job owned prestigious standing and status, was quite rich and was the greatest of all men of the east; however, he didn’t treasure his fame, gain and position but upheld following God’s way as the most important thing in his life. When he encountered sickness and his entire body was covered with sore boils, he could let go of his standing and status, sat in the ashes using a potsherd to scrape himself, not caring how others would see him, and still blessed God’s holy name, feared God and shunned evil. Thus he gained the approval of God. Only living in this way is the most meaningful!
I couldn’t help thinking of my mother. Although she had some cultural knowledge, she had no opportunity to escape from the poor peasant life, so she often complained to Heaven that she was unrecognized for all her talents. However, after she received God’s kingdom gospel and understood some truths, she no longer bemoaned fate’s injustice. Instead, she was able to accept and submit to the Creator’s arrangements, and accepted God’s gracious will from that, living in peace and sureness. She often told me, “If God hadn’t protected me with such sovereignty and arrangement, I would also have gotten sucked into the vortex of pursuing fame and gain and couldn’t have extricated myself like my classmates. Giving some thought to my classmates: Some were successful and quite rich, but died young because of constant overwork; some others suffered from depression as they couldn’t bear tremendous stress. From the outside, their lives were so brilliant that everyone envied and looked up to them, but there were so many unknown heartbreaks and irrelievable suffering hidden from view.”
Through these facts around me, I understood: Man’s value of existence and the meaning of life are not according to how high the standing and status he possesses or how people see him; instead, it is according to whether he is a person who follows God’s way, fears God and shuns evil in His eyes.
The word of God says, “After you recognize this, your task is to lay aside your old view of life, stay far from various traps, let God take charge of your life and make arrangements for you; it is to try only to submit to God’s orchestrations and guidance, to live without individual choice, and to become a person who worships God.”
Yes! We should put aside our previous outlook on life and values, and then we can be like Job, who didn’t live for fame and gain, but obeyed God’s sovereignty and arrangements, sought after fearing God and shunning evil, and became a person that worshiped God. Only by living in this way can we be relaxed and liberated!
Bringing my thoughts back to reality and looking at the moving crowds around me, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat released and comforted. Because of coming before God and understanding some truths, I could see clearly Satan’s sinister motives that it used fame and gain to lead me to the wrong path of life and could also understand that only when man comes in the presence of God, accepts and submits to His sovereignty and arrangements, follows His way, and treads the path of fearing Him, can man keep away from Satan’s affliction and live in the freedom and light. Thank God!