After recently preaching, I was reminded of a Wendell Berry poem about how we work but we ultimately rest as God does the work. I think this applies not only to preaching and ministry but to parenting, relationships, speaking truth to someone, any attempt at making a difference, gardening, our work, and many other things. There’s so much work for us to do, and yet in some ways so little we can do. Much has to be “left to grace” while we rest.
Poem X from 1979 in This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems
Whatever is foreseen in joy
Must be lived out from day to day.
Vision held open in the dark
By our ten thousand days of work.
Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By work of ours; the field is tilled
And left to grace. That we may reap,
Great work is done while we’re asleep.When we work well, a Sabbath mood
Rests on our day, and finds it good.
– Wendell Berry
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