Digging Holes of Futility

An article by Matt    No Comments

For the first five years of my life my family lived in an apartment complex in Parkville, a town just outside of Baltimore.  The complex was fairly spread out (for being that close to the city) and had a decent size patch of woods that I could spend my days adventuring in.  One of the big adventures that my friends and I took part in on a daily basis was digging a hole.  Now most kids, when they enter into a large scale digging project, aim to dig to China, or some other place on the opposite side of the world… not us.  We had every intention of digging a hole to Hersheypark.

With such a  high goal in mind we spent days and days digging our hole to Hersheypark, using everything that we had available to us (normally sand shovels and sticks).  After two years of digging we found ourselves precisely one foot closer to Hershey.  Looking back at my time in Parkville I always chuckle at our adventures in digging.  When I share the story with people they all seem to smile politely and make some kind of smart remark about better understanding my dysfunction.

While the story is good for a laugh and a few chuckles, you have to admit that it was a perfectly acceptable way for a child to pass the time.  Now that I have years of life experience behind me, and great mapping tools like this one, I know that digging a whole to Hersheypark is futile.  Were I to head out into the back yard in the morning with visions of chocolate bars floating in my head as I dug, my wife would be sending me to the psychiatric hospital by lunch time.  While the image of me digging a hole of futility may bring a smirk to your face, I am willing to bet that you are spending countless hours each week digging your own hole of futility.

As church leaders our work is never done.  The steady stream of demands on our time can be relentless, and we are often left to make hard choices on what relationship, project, or ministry to pursue… and which one to let go of.  When we get caught up spending time and energy in relationships, projects, or ministries that are not bearing fruit, these choices only become harder and more frequent.  Perhaps it is time to look over your calendar and figure out where you are digging holes of futility, and where you are taking part in fruit bearing ministry.

It will be hard to quit, but for the good of the church you lead, stop digging holes.

How do YOU determine what are holes of futility, and what is fruitful ministry?