We are workers, not master builders

On the last Habitat for Humanity project I worked on in Pontotoc, Mississippi our team had a lot of fun and accomplished a lot by our efforts, but we were left with a feeling of incompleteness at the end of the project. All we did was roof a house, paint the house, and frame out some of the home’s interior. None of the interior walls or duct-work, however, was completed. The house looked nice from the outside, but we knew there was so much more we could have done had we had more time.

This bothered a couple of us because during previous summers we had renovated complete homes and had a real sense of satisfaction from a job well done. It was hard leaving Mississippi knowing that we hadn’t finished the job, and this emotion surprised us.

What we learned was, as disciples, our role is not to finish the job. We are just called to participate, use our gifts, do our best, and leave the results up to God. This isn’t always easy to accept, but it’s all we have. It’s not about our legacy, it’s about Christ’s legacy in building the kingdom.

This experience reminds me of the famous reflection attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero who says:

"We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying that the kingdom always
lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession
brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives include everything.

This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one
day will grow. We water the seeds already planted
knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations
that will need further development. We provide yeast
that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of
liberation in realizing this. This enables us to do
something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity
for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may
never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not
messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own."