"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 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 God's grace to enter and do the rest."
-an excerpt from "A Future Not Our Own" by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw
I ripped this poem out of a magazine about a year ago, and somehow have managed to keep a hold of it through the chaos of my dorm room, and now a move to Church Hill. This is only two verses of it, but I like what it has to say- we cannot do everything. For me it is easy when initially confronted with the harsh realities of that to despair. It reveals the distorted view I have of myself, that I could even begin to think that I could come in and change years of brokenness and injustice. But then slowly ever so slowly, I realize that God brings me to this point intentionally, that I need to stop trusting and relying on myself and my strengths, and make room for God to show up. "It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest."
I wonder what that really means on a day-to-day basis. What does it look like to view the inadequacies and limits of my efforts not as failures, but as opportunities for God's grace to enter and do the rest? I think I can apply this to the day camp. There are some pretty major issues in Church Hill that need to be addressed, and a day camp might seem like a small way of addressing them. But it does address a felt need; these students need a loving, stimulating environment where they can be challenged to excel. Rather get overwhelmed when I think what about we are up against, I hope that I can have hope that God's grace will continue to enter and that he is at work. My task is not to save the world (how ridiculous is that!), but to be faithful in the small areas that God has called me to, like a day camp in Church Hill. When I have that perspective, I can celebrate the small accomplishments and moments that sneak up on me- when a student voluntarily offers his coveted bucket seat in the Yukon to sit in the cramped back in order to keep the peace, or when a student who didn't get the Street Leader position continues to help and show initiative with the younger children even without being asked, or one of the middle school boys stops one of the Lil'Tykes so that he can tie his shoe, or an intern and high school student share their lunches with me when I accidently didn't get one. When I can trust God to be in control, it frees to be able to celebrate these things, and not discount their worth simply because there is still so many problems out there. These moments of kindness, courage, and selflessness encourage me to remember that we are planting seeds that will bear fruit, and that God is at work throughout time and place, which is so much more beautiful than one person doing it alone.
