A Swimming Lesson

Isaiah 49:3-5 He told me "...you are My servant. I will show my glory through you.". But I said, "I have worked hard for nothing; I have used all my power, but I did nothing useful.". But the LORD will decide what my work is worth; God will decide my reward.

Being away from what you do for a while is a good thing for everyone. It's good for mothers and caregivers. It's good for teachers and coaches. It's good for those who work hard with their hands and those who work hard with their brains. It's good for pastors, and it's good for their congregations.

One of the things a break is good for is taking stock. Evaluating your work and how and why you do what you do, and what you are or are not accomplishing. I've been doing a LOT of that these past two months during my LOA. I'm coming up to five years in my current ministry position, so the timing is right for it.

Like a lot of people, I work hard at what I do. I spend myself quite thoroughly most weeks, using up a lot of emotional and mental and physical energy. The spiritual component is there too, permeating everything. You know this. When you work hard you want to know that it's accomplished something.

Problem is, when your work is in the abstract arena of spiritual transformation, the results aren't always that obvious. Churches and the people in them don't follow a precise growth chart of tangibles. A lot of it is very private. Most of it you don't hear about. Sermons especially. They require hours of concentrated effort every single week. Do they make any difference in anyone's life? Hard to tell. How do you tell?

And of course, there are so many variables in the growing of souls that are entirely outside of your control. Hard work in itself gaurantees nothing.

Regardless of our profession, I think all of us, at times, can echo the sense of uselessness expressed by "the servant" in Isaiah's prophecy. Sometimes it's just really hard to see any fruits of your labour. Five years.

But an interesting thing happens in Isaiah's dialogue. It's as if God interrupts "the servant's" self evaluation with a holy "get over yourself". "I'm in charge of outcomes," He says. "I'll decide if your work has value or not. And I will reward you, not the growth charts."

This doesn't mean we don't consider the facts and carefully and prayerfully make changes where change is necessary. The Bible is full of effective strategy and growth-oriented goal setting.

But it does redirect my focus. Oh yeah. It's not about me.

I thought these thoughts while swimming back and forth to the channel marker 16 times, to make my kilometre for the day. The benefits to my mind, body and soul are unquestionable, but you wouldn't see any of that on me as I climbed out to towel off.

I'd just look wet and unglamorous and a little too chubby....and satisfied by that one swim.

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