We have been spending time as a leadership group looking at the future and vision for PK going forward in the foreseeable future. Now that may sound like an oxymoron because the future is not particularly foreseeable. I don’t think many of us would have picked what 2020 would bring on New Year’s Eve in 2019. We were still wrapped up in the Australian bush fires at the end of 2019. Events seemed to be happening an ocean away and we were to a certain extent just interested spectators. We had empathy and little connection unless we were directly linked in some way through Australian family and friends or knowing a fire and emergency relief worker. Then when Covid-19 appeared in the news, many of us were not prepared for the impact that would have on 2020-2021.
Modern business and organisational culture focus a lot on the setting of vision statements and goals so we can plan and monitor what we are doing. At some level this has spread into our personal and spiritual lives. So, at the end and beginning of the year we tend to evaluate where we have been and consider where we are thinking of going. The question remains is this biblical or cultural, is this just the way our western culture works?
The western world has spent the last 200 years expounding and exporting the virtues of democracy. The power is in the will of the people, what happens, who we vote for, what is acceptable in society and what we are trying to achieve. But what would happen if we went back to a much older concept and accepted that the world is actually a theocracy, meaning that we are actually accountable to the will of God, not the masses or the culture. How then would we behave, plan, and run our lives? If we spent our time interpreting where God was active in our own lives, in the activity of our family, our community, our church and our nation. Would that not be a more worthwhile process?
We at PK have spent time looking for the activity of God around us so that we can join HIM rather than just asking Him to bless what we are thinking of doing.
I have been drawn back to Psalm 127:1 which says,
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.”
How much time do we spend on good works, not God’s work? We may feel good, even noble but the scripture tells us that we labour in vain. As the PK network we are very keen on making sure that we are hearing from God about what we are to be doing as we build the house. The need for it to be God’s house not just any house becomes patently obvious. Together we build and guard our families, so it is important that we are aware of the activity of God in our family, in our church and not least in our community.
It is the understanding that we are positioned by God for a reason for HIS good works. Early in the year is traditionally the time for reflection and new plans, so look around for the fingerprints and activity of God and then join Him. Let Him do what He can do, and you do what only you can do. It will make all the difference!
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
Blessings
Paul Monahan