Seasons of Preparation

Today, I was out with about 8 friends (and some other people) at a Habitat for Humanity build in South Atlanta... something that I had been committed to for about a month or so. It was a good time... the house that we were in the process of building was for a Sudanese refugee who fled religious persecution (from the Islamic regime/forces that were forcing "conversion by the sword") and had the opportunity to have this house built for him and his family by Habitat. His was a really cool story. But that's not the story I'm telling here... I just thought it was cool that we were doing this build for a guy with such an incredible story...

But, back to my story. How selfish, huh? ;-)

Today was the "painting day" for the house that we were building. I found myself, for almost all day, outside caulking (sealing cracks) and painting siding on the house. Part of this house, which was the most difficult to paint, was the backside because the house was built on a slope so this side was almost completely unreachable without the ladder. Right before lunch, we got to this section of the house, in which we had to plant a sliding 20' ladder to go up and seal and/or paint the house. The ground that we were placing the ladders on was not very... what's the word? FLAT. So, almost every time we had to reposition the ladder I had to get a shovel out and create a new foundation to lay the ladder in. It was a lot of seemingly unproductive work, I tell you.

So, after lunch I'm back in the back painting the back (not my back) of the house and was talking to a fellow Habitat builder (whose wife is from Lithuania... and having discovered that I was going to Estonia next week created this cool cultural conversation about the Baltics) and I made this comment that "It seems like I've spent more energy shoveling for this ladder than actually doing any work" (almost in a frustrated sense). I'm not sure when-after I made that statement that an "ah ha moment" hit me that if I hadn't spent the time preparing the ground for the ladder, that I couldn't do the work on the house AT ALL because I would fall down on my butt (a long ways too). In a sense, the "unproductive" work of preparation was just as important, and necessary, for the productive work.

This was a cool moment for me because I feel that's the way my life is right now.... that God's preparing me for something huge but what he has me doing is shoveling dirt and I feel like I'm spending a lot of energy for something that's not producing anything... be it in my career, or in relationships, or even in the preparation for this trip because most of what we have done has been to create unity as a team... most of our training will happen in Tartu when we arrive. What God gave me a glimpse of with the ladder is that the fact that even thought don't feel that I'm doing what I want to be doing career-wise, or in a relationship, or whatever in the present tense... the experiences He is giving me is preparing me for a greater work that will be incredibly fruitful. For the career example, I never set out to build a career in finance, but the role that I've been in for 2 years has moved in that direction and in the trees I'm not seeing things going my way but from the forest seeing that the financial skills I've honed in this season will differentiate me as a sales and marketing professional and make me more successful in my future endeavors. I have also seen life circumstances this year that don't seem to have any purpose in the moment but when I lay over the context of Estonia, of ministry, and of seeing God's faithfulness have incredible value in shaping my faith and character. The season of preparation, while in the moment doesn't seem pleasant or even productive, is a tool that God uses to shape us and our character for the great things He has planned.

It's easier to see that with an eternal perspective :-). I'm in the woodshop... and the sandpaper is being applied. It's all good.

chris <><