What would be more impactful than what I’m doing right now? This is an interesting question, similar to the “you can’t hear the dogs that don’t bark.” If we are about the Father’s business all the time, this thought may not occur to us often. When we say “Yes” to the adventure of our lives, think Abraham leaving his home, Moses going back to Egypt, and many others, it wasn’t that they weren’t already impactful in their lives. In fact, although the popular slogan “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called” is catchy and may have a point, it isn’t very accurate. God does call the qualified – He calls all because all are qualified to say yes to His call. Further, the only unqualified people are those who say “No.”
How then, do I determine if I’m doing the work that will do most for the Kingdom? Certainly we can agree that efforts can be classified as more or less impactful….not all efforts are equally fruitful any more than two seeds planted at the same time in the same conditions. Would it have been wrong for the man who had been given two talents to try to gain three more?
I’ll tell you why I’m thinking about this. I am asked from time to time to serve in various capacities. However, I don’t really feel like I have any time capacity, so saying yes to a new call means saying no to a current duty. Most times, family time is what we say ‘no’ to, because our family is patient, and, well, doesn’t exactly have veto power over what I choose to do. Many of the calls that are hardest to discern are when travel is involved – speaking engagements, opportunities to pour wisdom into many. But, I watch many influential people and don’t at all envy their discipleship track record with their families and communities. Should being home 90%+ nights be expendable if you are speaking life into hundreds or thousands of people?
Maybe I should wait 20 years until my last child is grown….that seems like one of two things. 1)a great reason to not start on the Abraham/Moses journey. Is that approach God’s will? 2)a strange blind spot where I would think my time as a father is more important when children are young and less important when my children are grown, possibly have grandchildren, or various responsibilities then that I’m totally discounting in value.
So you see, I don’t really know what to think. People who are still honored after their deaths are those who really poured into others…..their family supported them, gave of themselves, grew resentful, followed a different path, or some of all of this. Most people give to the circle right around…that seems to be the more common method. Those people aren’t really remembered, what they did wasn’t extraordinary. Betsy suggests maybe Youtube is the way to be home and still pour into others. What do you think?