Finding Meaning In The Workplace

I came across a story one morning that really helps put things into perspective. This story comes from the sefer Kuntres Chaim V'Chessed:

The Chofetz Chaim once expressed his great envy to a pharmacist regarding his occupation, which gave him myriad opportunities each day to dispense medication and thereby save lives. The pharmacist rejected the praise, confessing his real purpose was not saving lives, but rather earning a living. The Chofetz Chaim advised him that he should not waste the great spiritual potential of his profession. "When you dispense medication," he advised, "do so with the intention that 'I am fulfilling a mitzvah of chessed and saving lives.' Earning a profit does not devalue the mitzvah, as long as you have the proper intentions."

The pharmacist followed the Chofetz Chaim's advice. He became an important communal leader whose guidance was eagerly sought. Years later, he acknowledged that the merit of the intentions of chessed with which he performed his responsibilities as a pharmacist earned him his special status.

Although it sometimes close to impossible to find any meaning in my profession, I now go to work with the intention that I am there to fulfill a mitzvah by doing chessed for others in my office building. If nothing else, leaving my home each morning with this intention allows me to find some minuscule bit of meaning in an otherwise meaningless place.