A Ministry

TUES., SEPT. 8, 1992, 6:40 AM
FARM, STUDY

Ministries of Mine are more diverse than you can imagine. They fit and are part of a great range of situations, and they utilize the talents of a great assortment of individual humans. Thus, as individuals have a variety talents and interests (each one, that is) so a person’s ministry will have different facets.

You have taken on a new one, and of it I approve. You accepted the invitation to be on the University Christian Ministries Board, and you then elected to take a responsibility for building and grounds. Since there is a goodly amount of ground, and the location is quite central you recognized a ministry in keeping those grounds beautiful. It is like unto the charge I have given you in relation to this Farm… keep it as beautiful as possible. Now the charge is similar, but for a place seen by many more people.

A combination of busyness and laziness results in many places looking much less beautiful and neat than they could or should be. Now hear also that beauty isn’t always equated with neatness. I approve of your leaving your woods just s they are, but that also means that you must distribute bush and tree trimmings so that they aren’t obviously in some large, ugly pile. Keep this in mind this morning.

You worked on this mission at UCM yesterday, and you found it to be quite an exercise, and quite time-consuming. You see that to do it as you would do it for Me will take some hours, even each week, but you also recognize that exercise is good for your body, and there is good personal satisfaction in both the process and the result.

It is too late for this year, but next year let this ministry include flowers and color around that prominent building. Now you’ll have to balance the time this will take with all other calls for your time, but this shall give a balance to your life that other, more cognitive, tasks would not. Perhaps it shall be for only 3 years or your term on the Board. Just know that it is a legitimate ministry, one of which I approve.

( 7:11 / 10:40 )

Ministry is most often equated with direct service to humans in any of the dimensions of being, but certainly including the spiritual. Ministry is an expression of health, so it does have the dimensions that you commonly identify with health. Ministry to other humans is essential, but I also want you to see ministry in other ways. This attention to the UCM grounds is a good example. There is a ministry in doing it and also in the “finished product.” At least for the rest of this early Fall season you will have to budget time for this particular ministry. You know that it is not as it should be now.

Another ministry that I continue to urge upon you is that of letter-writing. You can write quite effective letters, but you do not take all the opportunities that come your way. If I define this as part of your personal ministry you may be a bit more willing to write in initiation and in response.

I realize, of course, that you do see your teaching as a kind of ministry, and that you should. It is a unique role, and you have special opportunities to make young learners aware of the spiritual dimension in the topics which are yours to develop. Another special ministry that is yours to savor and do is in the hospice volunteer training. It is a unique and spirit-touching presentation, so do it as often as you can.