Landscaping Project

If we had known how physically challenging it was going to be I'm not sure we would have taken the project upon ourselves.

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Reference:  v.6  "Ah, Sovereign Lord," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

Explore:  As we can't predict the future sometimes we engage in a project that leads to many problems and challenges.  If we had have known beforehand, we may have decided never to get involved.  My husband and I decided to landscape our front yard.  We had no experience in any kind of trade but with the help of a mate we started the manual labour of transforming our garden.  I have never worked my body so hard as I did during that week.  I lost count of the blisters on my hands, the dirt under my nails, and the pain all over my body.  But after 2 days of digging, 2 days of shovelling, 30 red gum sleepers, 5 cubic meters of fill soil, 70 meters of weed matting and 7 cubic meters of rocks and mulch we finally completed our landscaping.  If we had known how physically challenging it was going to be I'm not sure we would have taken the project upon ourselves.  But the pride we now have in our redeveloped front yard is overwhelming.

Application:  As God called Jeremiah to the exceptional task of being His prophet I think he had a little more understanding of how challenging his task was going to be than we had of our landscaping project.  And so Jeremiah was pretty quick to say, 'I'm not qualified.'  And to be honest, as Jeremiah stood before God all those years ago, he probably wasn't qualified.  But God never focuses upon our limitations; He sees our potential.  He knew who He had created Jeremiah to be and also knew that He was going to be with Jeremiah whatever he did and wherever he went.  We can often shy away from tasks ahead of us because we don't feel qualified.  And let's face it, often when we start a task, we are not qualified.  But each person holds great potential.  YOU hold great potential, and unless we are obedient to God and stretch ourselves, we will never be able to see the kind of person God has created us to be.

Prayer:  Lord, sometimes our future seems scary.  We don't know what lies ahead for us and we don't know if we have what it takes to make it through.  May we hold firmly to our faith in you, knowing that 'you are with us and will rescue us'.  Amen.

Is there something in your life where you think, "I'm not qualified"?  Hand over your limitations to God and ask Him to show you your potential.