Suffering Setbacks: Embracing the Suffering of Losses in Business
“Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).
We know as Catholics that suffering is redemptive, and we are taught to offer up our pains, illnesses, and personal struggles as we learn to carry our portion of the Cross of Christ. While this is not easy, there are testimonials throughout Church history of those who have gone before us, suffering well for their own sanctification and for the salvation of others, that give us a path to follow.
However, in business, we do not have quite as many examples, especially as women in business. Learning how to embrace the crosses that come in our business may prove more challenging without a roadmap.
Suffering in Business
Women, more often than men, struggle with compartmentalizing as is humorously detailed in the book Men are like Waffles and Women are like Spaghetti by Bill and Pam Farrell. Our lives tend to run together like spaghetti noodles, overlapping business and personal, home life and work life. However, when it comes to our businesses, too often we compartmentalize our relationship with Christ and leave our faith at the door. We fail to apply our Catholic formation to our business the way that we apply it to our lives.
Losses are painful and can be demoralizing. When we work to build a business only to watch it fail, we often absorb that failure and make it personal rather than stand back from it and allow Christ to speak to us through the loss and transform us. Equating our business success to our value is never a good practice, and whether we experience great success or great failure, neither should become our identity. We must learn from all of our setbacks, including those in our business, rather than see them as failures.
My Personal Journey
I have had a half dozen different occupations throughout my professional life. I have built hugely successful businesses, and I have seen others fail miserably. I have received professional accolades, and I have been fired.
Throughout all of these, my internal desire has always been to help others live authentic lives through discovering themselves as seen and created by God. During the successes, I was grateful to God, but also self-satisfied and basked in the vainglory of personal achievement. During the failures, I became humble and repentant, allowing God to teach me how to rest in Him and His provision. God uses whatever means necessary to cleanse us from our egoism, to purify us of every false belief, and ultimately to lead us to Himself. I experienced much greater conversion and a deepening in my relationship with Jesus when I began to detach from outcomes, from success, and ultimately from any created thing, including my career.
Application to Daily Life
In theory, this sounds holy and peaceful, but what does it look like in practice?
Consecrate your business to the Lord. If you haven’t already, offer your business to Jesus, and ask for His direction, guidance, and wisdom in every decision, and renounce all self-ownership.
Each morning, pray over the day ahead. Ask the Lord to go before you in each meeting, phone call, and task, and surrender the outcomes to Him.
Pray the Surrender Novena to help guard your thoughts against self-preservation and to guide your heart and mind toward trusting in His leadership of your business.
Remember that the goal of our lives is to bring glory to God through loving and serving Him in this life so that we may live with Him eternally in the next. Everything else, including every created thing (our businesses, our marriages, even our children) is secondary to this purpose.
Unfortunately, there is not a tremendous number of female saints who worked in the business world, but we do have a few to learn from as working women. One is St. Margaret Clitherow, the patron saint of business women, and her feast day is October 21st. St. Margaret is an example of a fearless woman who lived her faith to red martyrdom, and one whom we can look to when we are faced with choices that will define our lives. We may not need to face red martyrdom as she did, but when we are faced with losses, ridicule, or trial, consider how God is calling us toward something greater.
Perhaps we need to acknowledge a failure or a sin on our part that led to the failure and God is calling us to repentance. Perhaps God desires us to grow in humility, charity, or fortitude all of which come through adversity. Regardless of our external circumstances, remaining hopeful in Christ, trusting in His goodness and His desire for our holiness, we persevere in faith, hoping in the promises of Christ.
Laryn Weaver is a career chameleon with a consistent focus. Her goal is for each person she encounters to have a deep understanding of their own worth and value and an awareness of the skills and gifts that they bring to the world. While not technically a business coach, 95% of her clients are in the business world. For 25 years, her desire has been to build up the women as they build their lives.
Laryn is the author of four books and spent part of her career as a motivational speaker for Catholic women and women in business. She regards her marriage of 31 years and her four adult children who love Jesus and have a commitment to beauty, truth, and goodness her greatest accomplishments. Her latest blessings are the four grandbabies who add abundantly to her gratitude! Find out more about Laryn and the services she offers at larynweaver.com.