dust collection.

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" Phil 1:6

Yesterday morning, my pastor asked us to put up the number of fingers to show how many uncompleted tasks we have awaiting for us at home. Needless to say, some of us had to use our toes as well. There is just so much to do that sometimes, actually most of the time, we neglect to finish what we need to do. Our attention is diverted to other activities, and our projects just sit there collecting dust.

To be quite honest, I feel like my life is just being covered in dust, as I wait. What am I waiting for? Sometimes I don't even remember. I guess, I just want all the pain to go away...but each day I am anticipating change...and when it doesn't happen, disappointment is inevitable.

However, I think I might be waiting for the wrong thing; in this very chapter, Paul is in chains, and he regards these chains as an encouragement to the other disciples. How could Paul still hold such joy in his heart even as he was a prisioner? Here I am wanting and hoping to be free from all that devastation in my life, but I lack that very joy.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that these chains in my life, in your life, have a purpose. We can't continue mourning over them, when we could use them for the glory of God. We just need to be assured that God will finish all the things He has started. The staleness and dust we feel is our fault, really. It's our job to get up and shake it off, in hopes that it affects others. We not only need to be patient, but we need to be willing.