November 3, 2009

Number 44

VIEWPOINT

Are you a contribution?

I don’t mean “Did you put a contribution in the collection plate?”  Instead, are you a contribution?

That’s the question that is raised by Ben Zander in The Art of Possibility.  Unlike success and failure, contribution has no other side. It is not arrived at by comparison. “All at once I found that the fearful question, ‘Am I loved for who I am, or for what I have accom-plished?’ could be replaced by the joyful question, ‘How will I be a contribution today?’”

What if we all continually asked ourselves the question, “How can we contribute to God’s work in world redemption and Kingdom expansion?  What if we re-fused to compare ourselves to other Christians?  (Remember, lighthouses don’t compete!)

“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.  For we are each responsible for our own conduct” (Galatians 6:4-5).

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“Since you can't change time, you must instead change your approach to it” (John Maxwell).

“Focus on your potential instead of your limitations” (Alan Loy McGinnis).

I look forward to seeing you Sunday with a Bible, a smile and a positive word!    RA

The Plough

How could I have known
That when I opened the creaking gate
Of the field of my life
And invited you in
To do the necessary work
That your activity would be so painful
And yet ultimately
Bring about a harvest?

Setting your plough
To dig down deep
To turn over
And break up
Almost touching the deep bedrock
Of my soul
Revealing me in all my created
Rawness.

Leaving me exposed
Rich pickings for hungry gulls
Whilst all that I had previously
Thought worthwhile
Is torn from its root
Dies
And is re-interred
In the soil
Of my life

Now I lie open and naked
As my neat furrows are
Rained upon
Reduced
Frozen
Broken down
Emptied of all former life
Waiting

Then one day
The returning sun of your love
Gently warming
O'er lengthening days
Begins my re-awakening

Precious seed is sown
In prepared ground
Watched over
Anticipated
And the Autumn pain
Brings life
And hope.

                                                                            – Anne Linington