Kodak Moments
It was just about one year ago that I was teaching in Bandung and my students and I were trying our hand at rice farming. What a crazy semester! We had no idea how much work would be involved. But there was such a satisfaction in tilling the soil, seeing the first seeds germinated, planting the seedlings, getting DIRTY, fighting off the rats and blights, and hearing the sound of the wind blow through the mature rice.
And then I moved. Due to drought and other setbacks, our field was not ready for harvest on the last day of school as expected, and we left the campus that day with the wind still blowing through the rice stalks. It was a “Kodak Moment” of sorts. That picture is etched in my mind, because it was one of the few things in my life that I have left undone. But it was time to move on to a new calling in another part of Indonesia.
A month later, I received pictures from a friend who took pictures of the harvest. That was such a strange feeling! It was a mixture of disappointment that I didn’t get to be there to help and a sense of accomplishment that at least someone finished it! And then 1 Cor 3:6-8 came to mind:
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
It’s easy to start referring to what we do as “ours.” And that can be a pretty clear indicator of the short-sightedness and limited perspective of our spiritual eyes. But there’s nothing better than a passage like this to regain vision and perspective! We are merely servants working on farm larger than we can imagine! And our job is to be faithful with the day’s task. Sometimes, we’re given the job to plant, and sometimes to water. Sometimes we even get to help with the harvest and enjoy the fruits of our labor. But the Great Farmer will be the One who should be getting the credit in the end.
About a month ago, I was working with a team of students to build a volleyball court on a poor island with a population of less than 500. When we arrived to begin the project, one of our team leaders noticed that the land was slightly unlevel. So we went to the village leader to discuss the matter. We explained that if we built the court on the ground as it was, it might only last a year, and if they wanted it to last for 50 years, we should take the time to level the ground first. At first the village leader wasn’t quite sure why the court needed to last 50 years. But after some further talks, we decided to start the process of leveling the ground.
That sounded nice, in theory. The problem was the soil. Actually, I’m not sure you could even call it soil. It was essentially rocks glued tightly together with clay. We would swing our cangkul (hoe-like tools) with all our might, only to make a small indention into the ground, and we felt proud of ourselves if we could get a cup of gravel into our scoop to move to the other end of the court. After about three hours of doing that kind of work in full sun on the Equator, I stopped and looked around. Our team was wasted, and we hadn’t even started making the cement yet. I began to wonder if that was a very good use of our energy.
And that was another Kodak Moment. As my cangkul hit the ground again, I was reminded of that mental snapshot of the rice field from a year ago. Sometimes the work is hard. And sometimes we don’t get to see the end result. But the part we are called to play is important.
I recently went back to 1 Cor 3 again, to review the verses that had spoken to me a year ago. To my amazement, as I kept reading, there was another fitting treasure in verses 10-11:
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Sure. We could have ignored the grade on that court and laid the cement as it was. But… that would not have been very expert-like! And in the same way, we can be lazy in our callings too. We can cut corners. Take the easy way out. Save ourselves the effort and pain. But if we can zoom out to see the bigger picture, we will remember that it’s not just about us and our work right now. What we do now affects who builds on our work later. We should be careful how we build! And without excuse, the Son should be a part of everything that we lay down. Building with anything else won’t work!
Father, help us to do what you’ve called us to do faithfully. Give us perseverance when “our” work seems to be going nowhere. And give us open hands to surrender “our” work when it’s time to pass it on to someone else. Above all, remind us that it’s really not “our” work at all. It’s Yours.
