Good Enough

Today, Justin and Brandon and I went to see my Dad in the hospital. On our way we stopped at his house and used the snow blower and shovels to clean out his drive and sidewalks. As we were finishing I asked one of the boys to blow a path through the yard from Dad's driveway to the neighbor' driveway while I walked to the nearby parking lot to get the van. When I returned, I noticed that the requested path was only half finished.

"Dad! Why do we have to shovel a path through the yard?", the boys asked.

"See these tracks," I asked pointing to the boot prints in the 10-inch deep snow. "They're made by the mailman, it saves him time by cutting across the yard rather than returning to the road or sidewalk", I continued.

I finished the path and looked at the porch steps. One shovel width of snow was taken from each one. I'm sure the shoveler had declared that the job was done "good enough". By this time the boys were playing with some large icicles they had pulled from the porch roof. As I finished shoveling the steps, a thought came to my mind. "What if everyone on the entire street, did just a "good enough" job? That mailman would have to exert additional energy and his day would be considerably longer."

How about in our Christian service? Are we ever tempted to minister or do tasks just "good enough"? How much harder will that unsaved visitor or struggling new believer have to labor in the darkness because we ministered or served just "good enough?"

"Let us not become weary in doing good , for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." Galatians 6:9-10 NIV

Shovel well!