It is Done

So often, the work I'm involved in doesn't have immediate gratification. I have weeks, sometimes months of putting the pieces together to a  point we call success. Of course when you have worked hard and cross the finish line, there's not a better feeling.

When spring time shows up however, I begin a few chores that provide me that immediate gratification. Yesterday,  I had 100 pounds of grass seed, 300 pounds of weed & feed and an 8 acre field that needed mowing (that is refined for bush hogging).

While the grass seed doesn't provide that immediate growth, the rows that I walked spreading it does. Walking over brown Bermuda grass, I broadcasted the seed with the exciting expectation of a green yard.  Then, the fertilizer. Once again, the rows that I create helps me see the end of my job circling the house. I know the first rain we have will turn the yard into a growing field over night.

Figuring out what "it is finished" means

Probably the most satisfying immediate gratification I get is found on the tractor. Circling the wide field, getting rid of the old growth, and then seeing the circles getting smaller and smaller. In other words, that first circle is the longest cycle and from that point forward it gets shorter and shorter. Tell me if I'm wrong: when you're making that mowed circle, whether on a tractor or lawn mower, you're doing mental math in your mind, "about ten more circles, about nine more circles". Tim Keller said "All work has dignity because it reflects God’s image in us and also because the material creation we are called to care for is good". While God created the earth and said it was good. I worked in my yard and looked at it and said "it is good".

Yesterday, I worked about 5 hours in the yard and on my tractor. When the day was done, I was dirty and tired. But as I looked at what I had accomplished, I was satisfied. Inside, I said, it is done. Its almost as though I am preparing my yard for the flourishing of Easter. The difference is when I said "it is done", that was only a temporary finish. When Christ said "it is finished" on that first Easter, it truly was finished, his final words on the cross.

I guess that's why God placed in each of our hearts the need to accomplish "things". Work in not a four letter word. Tim Keller in his book Every Good Endeavor said, "According to the Bible, we don’t merely need the money from work to survive; we need the work itself to survive and to live fully human lives."

I am thankful for the ability to work whether it be in my vocation or simply trying to make my yard and pastures look better.  My yard work is only temporarily done, but because of Christ work on the cross, what matters is truly done.