"Let life enchant you again." - Fernando Gros
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Blog // Thoughts
November 20, 2006

It Helps, Now And Then, To Step Back And Take A Long View

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying […]

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could 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 the 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 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 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 not our own.
Amen.

Via Catholicism, Holiness and Spirituality. For more Romero quotes see here. I had thought these were the words of Oscar Romero, but it appears that they may have been penned by Ken Untener. Whomever, wrote them, they are still worthy of meditation.

[tags] Vision, Romero, Faith [/tags]

Responses
Rodd Jefferson 18 years ago

Really great post. This one speaks volumes to me at present – too easy to be focussed on visible outcomes and easy to be discouraged when your desire to change the world doesn’t seem to be happening!

I’m going to link to this from a current conversation on social justice at my site. I’ll do a trackback.

John Smulo 18 years ago

This is really meaningful. Thanks for sharing it.

Dana Ames 18 years ago

Excellent. Thanks, Fernando.
Dana

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