In an article in Forbes, business consultant Liz Ryan argues that companies shouldn't be obsessed with having "happy employees." Instead, she argues that employers should focus on helping employees connect to a greater mission. She goes on to give the following example of a mission-driven person:

Let's imagine a person completely immersed in his or her work. We'll use the greatest violin maker in the world as our example. I don't know who makes the greatest violins in the world, but we'll imagine that it's an Italian violin maker named Franco and that Franco has a studio where 15 or 20 apprentice and journeyman violin makers work alongside Franco making the most exquisite violins in the world.

Is Franco happy? He is alternately ecstatic, frustrated, transported, confused, exhausted and lost in the zone. He and his work are inextricable from one another. No one would say about Franco or his employees "They're happy." Instead, people in Franco's town would say "Those guys live and breathe violins, and people around the world rejoice."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Disciples; Discipleship; Mission; Missions—When Jesus called us to follow him he did not promise us happiness. Instead, he promised us a deep and rich and satisfying sense of mission. (2) Work—we all long for the kind of passion in our work that these violinists had (although in our fallen world at times that is not possible).