More heart attacks occur on Monday mornings between 8 and 9 AM than at any other time during the week. This strongly suggests that, for many, a return to the workplace is perceived as stressful.

Stress can also be habit forming and condition our bodies to react in certain ways. A study reported in the New York Times, Sept. 18, 1996 looked at abnormal heart rhythms, known as arrhythmias. A group of patients, mostly males over 50 were planted with defibrillators, miniature electronic devices which administer an electric shock to the heart whenever it is beating irregularly to bring it back to a normal rhythm. This study also indicated that the peak time for arrhythmias was Monday morning. The patients' heart during a monitored arrhythmia would beat 214 times a minute, three times the normal rate of 72. Without such a device as the defibrillator, the patient would pass out and die within minutes. It was interesting that the Monday morning phenomena held true with workers who were retired. Dr. Robert Peters, the Baltimore cardiologist who headed the research team, said that one possible explanation is that "tensing up" on Monday morning has become a learned habit.

The fact that the heart attacks are occurring before the work really begins indicates that the arrhythmia is psychologically rather than physically induced. For many, "tensing up" is a conditioned automatic reflex response for Monday morning.

Karl Marx believed that a worker only "feels himself" outside of his work. He "feels" when he is at home, and when he is working he does not feel "at home." The Apostle Paul indicates that we can experience personal integration and be "at home" with ourselves in our work: "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17 NIV).

Whereas Marx sees work as an experience where we lose our sense of self, and Freud sees work as activity in which we repress and sublimate our true desires and feelings, the Scriptures remind us that we can experience "our whole selves" wherever we go and whatever we do, if we are doing it all through the strength and for the glory of Jesus.

We can experience "the mind of Christ" at work. We have the truth of God to orient our mind, the affections of God to inspire our emotions, the holiness of God to purge our conscience, the wisdom of God to instruct our will, and the Spirit of God to communicate life through our body. We understand that we are ambassadors for Christ and are sent into the world not just for the purposes of productivity, but to "know Him" and "make Him known" in our place of work. We can trust that, as He leads us, His purposes will be advanced through our active cooperation. Even if we perceive our present job to be "mindless," we do not have to be!

Who are we working for? "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (Colossians 3:23-24).

"Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:5-7 NASB).

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell (be "at home") in your hearts through faith." (Ephesians 3:16-17a).

We can be at home in our work if Christ is at home in our hearts. Gear up, rather than tense up for work.