Ongoing and Unfinished

One of the things ministry in the church and life on the farm have in common is unfinished stuff.  Most of the pastor friends I know are quick to say that the end of the day comes with stuff still needing to be done.  Maybe it is some hospital visit, or some sermon preparation, or a promised phone call, but ministry is the kind of thing which is both ongoing and unfinished.  In these years of retirement here on the farm, I have discovered the same is true.  Only the tasks are different.  There is fence work which needs doing, cleaning up for the expected fall of the pecans, and repairing the door on the barn.  Always something ongoing and unfinished.    

Maybe what this tells us is that life is also ongoing and unfinished.  And, if we take the more serious look which carries us to the internal stuff of the spirit instead of the external stuff of the "to do" list, we realize that this is where the real ongoing and unfinished stuff lingers.  This is one of the reasons I have come to appreciate the word "journey" so much as I write and think about the spiritual life.  It is never about getting there, having it done, and sitting back with satisfaction, but always realizing that there is a way still to go.    

Our spiritual lives may seem to start off with some singular experience which sets our heart in motion toward God, but what is characteristic of the disciple is that life with God is always unfolding.  There are always new things to consider, unexpected challenges to shape faith, and acts of service that suddenly appear before us.  The way Home started somewhere in the past, but is constantly unfolding before us and as we go we carry with us the ongoing and unfinished business of walking with Christ.  When we get Home, we will hear Him say, "Well done,"  but until then it is living with the tension created by the stuff which remains to be done.