Reflection:

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
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 accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We PLANT seeds that one day will grow.
We WATER seeds already planted
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities...

We cannot do everything, and
there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do SOMETHING,
and to 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 Builders...
ministers, not Messiahs.

We are prophets of a future that is not our own.