Agriculture

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Storyline Conference and heard Donald Miller say,

"The spiritual life is like agriculture, not commercialism."

And today, I read these quotes...

Oscar Romero wrote, "It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts: it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No sermon says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplished the Church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. That is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that affects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in that. This enables us to do something, and do it very, very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the Master Builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builder; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own."

May we remember this as we plan, and write vision statements and business plans, and apply for 501c3. May we remember this as we watch families continue to disintegrate. May we remember this as we work and minister.