Cleaning Off My Desk

There are any number of things in life that, if choices were allowed, I would rather endure than having to clean off my desk. I keep projects 'rolling' across my desk and the ample counter space in my office. I believe such an organizational ethic aids in remembering that God's work is never done, just ongoing in all our lives. Still, others walk into my office and wonder out loud, 'How do you keep it all sorted and current?' I tell them not to mess with my piles, then clear off a space on the nearby table, have them sit down, pour them a cup of coffee, and ask what it was which brought them into my office in the first place. Oddly enough, there has never been a serious conversation held in my office which has been stymied by my organizational methods, at least none of which I am aware.

All of which makes me wonder: For whom do we keep the desk tops of our lives clean? For ourselves? For 'company'? To meet the expectations of powers-that-be that periodically make surprise visits? To appease our own 'A-type' personalities? To cleanse or prevent anal-retentive tendencies of project procrastination? Why do we do it?

Please don't get me wrong, I understand that there are those people who are innately gifted in having a place for everything and keeping everything in its place. They are a gift to our world and because of them much is accomplished in an orderly fashion that people like myself could only imagine. Yet, I believe God is fully in the midst of both extremes, with neither having advantage or disadvantage. Were that not true, creation would not continue to be birthed in such an amazing and ordered fashion, nor would Christ have come to redeem our wayward humanity from the messiness of life in these earthly tents. God does not condemn the messiness of life but, rather, calls us to live faithfully in the midst of the piles of projects around us.

Feeding the hungry is, both, about good planning in planting a crop and a willingness to walk in the difficulties of hunger with the one in need of food. Water for the thirsty seldom arrives in single-serving individual bottles ready to hand out to all who are in line but, rather, more often requires standing in the muck and mud of the shoreline, scooping water into whatever container one might have, then transporting it to where it is needed which is often miles away. Care for the ones who are sick is rarely a sterilized moment in time but, as Jesus reminds the members of the world community, most often requires us to touch, to hold, to support, and to pray, and to risk being touched. Most often, when being welcomed as a stranger, the ones with whom I am most likely to have an immediate and genuine relationship are the ones who welcome me into the cluttered rarified atmosphere of their family room or kitchen, the places 'life occurs', as opposed to those places where 'life is put on display'.

So, as I sort through the things on my desk, file a few projects needing closure and realign those projects now taking priority, I offer my thanks to God for sitting with me in my office, amongst the messiness of ministry and taking my life into God's own hands through Christ. When life on this earth is complete and the days of my living are judged, I pray not too many points are lost for lack of polish. I pray, too, that I might be found just acceptable enough to sit at God's kitchen Table and hear the family stories told in a Holy new way . . . like Jesus did with His disciples in the upper room. May it be equally profound for those who prefer the Living Room, as well.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don