Photo Prayer: Heidi Thorsen

A glimpse of my daughter’s toy basket spilled out on her bedroom floor—a common sight these days—reminds me that every day is a work in progress. There will always be more toys to clean up, more laundry, more dishes. To be a parent is to be in a constant state of incompleteness.  Maybe this is a gift: to be reminded that the most important things in life are always a work in progress, as is the kingdom of heaven that we seek and strive towards, through our faith in Jesus Christ.

A Prayer by Bishop Ken Untener (“The Romero Prayer”):

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.