By Cheryl Thul, Spiritual Care & Volunteer Program Team Lead, Providence Place

(Reprinted from the June 2020 edition of the CHAS Communique)

In our ministry, a vocation with Catholic health, we are privileged to have the freedom to share our faith in our daily duties. I recently read a book that spoke of the importance of not “compartmentalizing our lives into secular and spiritual and just let God show up wherever”.

Serving Up God: My Workplace as a Ministry by Canadian author, Colin MacDougall, is an easy, enjoyable, short book.  I want us to be truly thankful wherever we work. Let us make our workplace a ministry. On a side note, this author also happens to have a little cheesecake shop in Halifax that I indulged in many times and cannot wait to go back.

A quote from this book that really spoke to me was about the importance of treating everyone with respect, “I realized, early in my career, that to be a good leader, I had to be a good follower. I have always believed that people follow leaders who inspire them and treat them with respect.”

My parents were self-employed and they modeled how to treat their staff and customers with respect.  In my leadership role at Providence Place, I try to model how I treat people the same way my parents did.

I read most of this book lying on the beach by the Atlantic Ocean, while my son, fiancé and granddaughter swam. Tears filled my eyes as I realized how blessed I was to grow up in a Christian home, and parents with God’s love being shared with their employees and customers, not just by words but by their actions. Serving Up God reminds me how much responsibility we have as employees in healthcare to do the same.

Serving up God is a must read! It made me realize “my legacy isn’t seen in the financial results brought to the workplaces I have been part of. It is seen in the lives of those God has impacted through me.”

Working for a faith-based facility means that we are called to treat our co-workers with kindness, sharing its messiness with honesty. There is so much more to learn about ministering in our workplaces.

I hope everyone can enjoy the thoughts and words Colin MacDougall has beautifully integrated into this book. Take time to visit Sweet Hereafter Cafe in Halifax, Nova Scotia and enjoy this book while you indulge in a delicious piece of Colin’s homemade cheesecake. Blessings in your vocation!

Romans 8:28, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for the good, for those who are called according to his purpose”

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