There is a certain satisfaction that comes from the completion of a task.
Be it significant or menial, checking the box on a requirement brings with it both pride and peace. Secretly, I will sometimes add a box once I complete an unanticipated task just for the satisfaction of checking it off. This healthy sense of accomplishment is fundamental in driving us forward personally and as a people. Unfortunately, completion in the modern era has become conflated with recognition. And while recognition is not sinister in nature, it increasingly distorts our perception.
Take for example my household. Should I fold the laundry, make dinner, or clean the dishes, not only do I check a box off (at least mentally) but I also expect recognition for my contribution. Now these are fundamental tasks that are expected of me as an adult member of our household, not some extraordinary one-off, yet if I am withheld appreciation and praise I can become frustrated and even disgruntled. Jesus offered a different perspective in a parable to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, ‘Sit down and eat’? Wouldn’t you be more likely to say, ‘Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I’ve finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper’? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected of him? It’s the same with you. When you’ve done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.”
This stoic perspective convicted me. For in my far from perfect nature, I long to be recognized for my contributions and have, at least subconsciously, marginalized the satisfaction that comes from completion of the task itself. Again, recognition is not the enemy, but doing what we are expected to do should be a quiet given.
As we begin 2021, my prayer is that I might better appreciate the tasks for their own sake and take pride in their completion alone. That recognition might be more appropriately placed as a bonus vice an expectation.