In January, I wrote a month of posts on JonAcuff.com about something I call “FinishYear.” The basic idea is to challenge you and I to finish things that matter in 2012. The dreams you start never change the world. Only the dreams you finish change the world.
And it’s been encouraging to me to interact with a lot of people who are working on things that matter.
I started to think, though, if you’re not reading jonacuff.com, maybe you could use a little encouragement too. You see, sometimes as you work on things, it’s easy to think they don’t matter.
You don’t see progress.
You don’t see change.
You get negative feedback from someone, and eventually maybe you don’t see the point in going on.
But what I’ve learned in almost four years of writing this blog is that we have no idea how God is going to use what we do. Our efforts, the results of our actions, both might feel insignificant to us, but in God’s economy they might change the world.
Because he tells big, crazily connected stories, and I don’t want you to stop being part of the one he’s telling in your life just because you can’t see where it’s going.
Over Christmas, someone posted a comment on my Facebook page. I couldn’t have predicted this when I started the SCL blog, I couldn’t have imagined this, and yet here is a story that’s true. My hope is that you’ll read it and be reminded, like I was, that in God’s hands, our small, silly stories can have a big, unexpected impact in the world.
What someone wrote on my wall:
I was 20 weeks pregnant, and this past week, my husband and I found out we were no longer expecting this child we hoped for. I was rushed into surgery yesterday, Friday December 17th. We waited around the hospital for many, many hours, doing lots of blood work and x-rays. I have your book “Stuff Christians Like” on my Kindle iPhone. I read it throughout the day as we waited in between procedures. My husband and I laughed and giggled as I read entries from the book. As our hearts were devastated for our loss, your book brought much needed comic relief. Laughing really lifted our spirits. My favorite entry, among many, was the one about Somber Christian Syndrome, and I just giggled the whole time reading it. With all the medication I was on and injected with, there is truly no better medicine than laughter. Thank you for your gift of humor and for writing Stuff Christians Like.
