Dear St. Luke’s,

Last week when I was leaving the office for the weekend, I left a half-finished task on my desk expecting to get it done in the first half-hour of the workday on Monday, and now that I am once again getting ready to leave for the weekend, I am disheartened to see the task still undone. The task is neither pressing or unimportant; it simply needs to get done. Somehow throughout the week, this task kept on getting put on the back burner, because more important things popped up, or other tasks (like writing this devotion) overshadowed that lump of paper to the left of my elbow. That stack of paper is an outward and visible sign of what I have not done this week, and it is starting to drive me mad.

Those outward and visible signs of our productivity, or lack thereof, are rarely accurate indicators of what we have done. This morning I plunged a toilet, and now the toilet works. Those who benefit from that labor will likely not know the sweat and tears that went into that flush. That is a physical example, but the most important things are even harder to quantify. When I was in a hurry to plunge the said toilet, the two-year-old toucans in the Day School caught me in the hall and bum-rushed me. I was eager to get moving, and I am sure the ever-patient teachers were eager to get to where they were going, but taking a moment to listen to sacred babble and let them know they are loved is exactly what the Gospel calls us to do. I hope that extra minute will help reinforce the idea that Church is a happy and loving place as they continue to grow.

A year ago, I was having a polite conversation with a stranger, and the whole priest thing came up, which turned into a conversation about baptism, and this week I was pleasantly surprised to see a baptism request come in for some of their family members. In these three examples, I didn’t really do anything, but they each had the potential to be significantly more important than anything else I’ve done this week. It’s not like the conversation I had with the stranger was profound, or that I passionately and accurately described baptismal theology. I just listened, and said something, like “Too bad that Church won’t baptism them. You should call me because I’ll dunk ‘em.” With the toucans in the Day School, I am no savant with early childhood education, but I know how to listen, and how to respond when someone is excited to see me. As far as the toilet goes, some things are infinitely more noticeable when they don’t work, than when they do.

Showing up is a prerequisite to every bit of ministry that you and I will do, and it is usually something that happens to you, and not something that can be scheduled. The most mundane things are often the things that stick out the most in our psyche and don’t be afraid to take a breath and give time for the Holy Spirit to invite you to show up exactly where you were meant to be, but now I have some paperwork to do.

Blessings,

Nick