Thursday, February 1, 2024

I Wonder--February 1

I wonder if a ministry project ever truly ends? 

In October Bethesda distributed lunches to their children of their community for one week while the students were out of school. We will do this again in February. These are two specific weeks where a need is present. But once those weeks are concluded, does the project end? 

I have been considering this idea because I read something recently that sparked my curiosity. This is what I read: 

"Re-reading even a well-understood paragraph or page can be revelatory. New meaning, deeper understandings, inspirations, and nuances arise and come into focus." 

Think about the last time you re-read a significant passage of God's word, something that touched your heart previously. It still had resonance. Why? I suspect that the answer you would give is that the more frequently you re-read and re-examined something that held meaning and purpose to your heart, the more God brought it into focus for you. 

So then it stands to reason that if a mission and ministry project touches your heart then you are not truly done serving the Lord when it seems to end. Ministry does not end because the Lord continues to passionate touch your heart.

Instead, practices of discernment asks us to regularly return to God and ask deeper questions. Practices of discernment asks us to wonder what further learning and consideration might God be inviting us into in our future. Who might we bring into the conversation? And what might partners such as they have to offer us? 

Even something at seems clear on the surface can still teach us more and more the longer we linger with the Lord on them... 

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