How Landscaping Relates to Ministry

I spent all day yesterday messing around in the back yard. I wanted to put in a large brick patio, but didn't know if I had enough bricks. I spent all morning prepping the spot for the bricks. When it came around to laying the bricks I started seriously doubting that I had enough to complete the project. Because the bricks I'm using are leftovers from a landscaping project a couple of years ago I don't think they make the same bricks any longer. So, rather than lay a brick patio with two different types of brick I decided to use up the left over bricks on a place to keep the garden hose and another place to keep the trash cans. I got the garden hose place finished yesterday and will work on the trash can bricks today. At least I got something completed. I am afraid that my yard will be a mish mash of uncoordinated projects that don't blend well together. When I see that in someone elses yard I label it as eclectic, chalk it up to diversity, and enjoy the view. When I see it in my own yard I label it as uncoordinated, and a result of a lack of planning. I see it way to often in my own yard!

Sometimes my walk with the Lord is like this. Rather than spend the time preparing I have a tendency to just jump in to get something accomplished and letting the method find it's own path, which normally ends up showing itself as inconsistent ministry. I am all for having the Spirit take control of my life and by faith leading me through unfamiliar territory and circumstances, but I also think I owe it to the Lord to be prepared for this when it happens. I want to make myself the most flexible tool in the Lord's tool box, and that only comes through preparation, something I didn't do well yesterday, and something I have been struggling with lately. In being used by God is it better to just be doing something for the Lord, and making small differences in people's lives, or is it better to know that what you are doing fits into the larger plan that the Lord has? I know the answer, it is just hard to implement sometimes. The only way we can know the Lord's plan is to spend time with the Him.