Anticipation

Last week was a tough one. I am remembering some the challenges that come with the start of a new call. An article I read recently noted that the first three years of a new ministry primarily consist of administrative tasks that will prepare the way for what follows. It's a helpful reminder, but a little depressing. I am a fine administrator -- I just don't enjoy it. I have tasks ahead of me that I am quite sure I can do, but they are not the sort things that motivate me to get out of bed in the morning.

As I was moping about my state of low job satisfaction, our August newsletter was published. And there, in my own words, I found exactly what I needed to hear. I was not thinking about any of these things when I wrote what follows and when I read the words it was like I was hearing them for the first time. One thing I miss in sole ministry is a pastor of my own -- I'm glad God was able to use my own words to speak to me. Perhaps these words will also speak to you in whatever daily tasks await you this day.

"Good soil. Weeds and wheat. Mustard seeds. Throughout the summer we have been hearing these parables of growth from the Gospel of Matthew. The children have been watching the seeds they planted back in June grow week by week and going outside to discover the lessons our ever growing vegetable garden has to teach. At the parsonage I’ve been watching in wonder as each day the seeds I planted in early summer produce yet another fruit: a cucumber! A zucchini! Fresh basil and tomatoes! More zucchini! While June was spent planting and July was spent watering and weeding, August will be the month to begin to bring in the harvest – and figure out what to do with the bounty. This month I will be canning and pickling and freezing and likely handing zucchini out to you as you leave worship on Sunday mornings.

The anticipation of the harvest is what makes the planting and the tending so fun. Even though some June days I felt too tired to plant and some July days it seemed too hot to weed, still the vision of the bounty to come sent me out to the garden..."

Right there in my own garden and my own words I am reminded of the joyful fruits that these administrative tasks will some day produce. And, so I continue to go out with patience to do those sometimes tedious tasks, in the sure and certain hope of a full and joyful harvest. It just better not take three years for things to ripen!