God’s Work Our Hands

By Sue Friest

God’s Work Our Hands

2 Corinthians 15:58  NRSV

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

“If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today.” 

Although this quote never appeared in Martin Luther’s writings, it is supposedly a proverb that he was fond of saying.  To me, it is words of hope that encourage me to always be about doing God’s work in all circumstances. Fifteen years ago, we were tasked by the county to create a mitigation zone on the lakeshore to hold the soil and protect the water.  We transplanted native shrubs and White Pine trees and seeded daisies and coneflowers.  As the years evolved, nature reinvented our plan.  All but one of the pines we planted were eaten by deer in the winter, beautiful birch seeded themselves, native White Pines seeded a multitude of pines and the wild flowers gradually receded due to lack of sunlight.

The pine in the picture is the one survivor of the original transplanted trees and it is 25 feet tall.  I diligently caged it until it was safe from the deer and pruned it to encourage growth.  I call this tree my legacy tree because it is for my grandchildren. I will never know this tree as a majestic pine, but have hope that my grandchildren will see it in its glory.  Then this summer, I noticed sap weeping through the bark. It appears to have a disease and I can only watch and wait to see if it can heal.  I can only plant and tend.  I am not in control of what the outcome will be.  Sometimes we plan and God laughs, but God calls us to plant, to tend, to water, to care for God’s earth and to care for God’s people.  We may never see what our labor produces, but God promises that our labor will not be in vain even when the fruits are not apparent.  Today there are six other young pines that grew from seeds that God’s creation planted. I tend them as well.  Hopefully they will grow to become majestic pines even if my legacy tree does not survive.  God never leaves us without hope.

Lord, thank-you for each day you give me to do your work.  Give me eyes to see what needs to be done, compassion to do it, and trust that when I work in your name, it is not in vain.  Amen