“Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.” Khalil Gibran

Well, we are now in the new year and it feels like the slate is clean. That’s the wonderful thing about the beginning of a new year- it can be a time of starting over.  It’s appropriate that this is the last resolution with the first Passionate Giving blog post in 2012 because if you keep the first five, joy will be the outcome.  In other words, if you accomplish the first five, the sixth comes as an added bonus.

“Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.” Mohandas Gandhi

…Serve your donor
…Love your work
….Set goals
…Make mistakes
…Be curious
…Seek joy, and you will find it.
I’m not going to kid you…it’s going to be hard to keep these resolutions. It’s always easier to “just get by,” or to complain and whine about your work to others, and basically do the minimum to keep your job.
But that’s not living.
2012 will be the year to find joy in the work you do. Will it be there everyday? No. Will it be there most days?  Probably not.  Joy is not easy to find.

“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.” Joseph Campbell

But when a donor calls you to thank you for the way you attended to her need, or when you see the smile on a donor’s face when she sees the project she helped fund for the first time…you will find joy.
When your boss notices how in tune you seem to be with your caseload and you’re making your revenue goals, or you realize that someone was saved from heartache or death because of your work…you will find joy.
When you have served your donor well, when you realize that you can’t wait to get to work in the morning, when you have set goals for your caseload, when you have a plan to take risks during the year and when you’re asking great questions left and right…YOU will find joy.
Seek joy this year and it will find you.
Have an incredible 2012.  Richard and I wish you all the best in your work.

 “Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Jeff
Read the entire series:

1. Serve Your Donor, Don’t Sell Them
2. Love Your Work!
3. Set Goals!
4. Make Mistakes
5. Be Curious — Ask More Questions
6. Seek Joy! (This post)