Dirty Shops

Proverbs 14:4 ESV

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean

                But abundant crops come by the strength of the ox…

 “This is a working shop, if you don’t have time to put it away immediately don’t start the project immediately” this was one of the rules listed on a piece of card board with the initials DFZ . As I looked around the shop it was evident that this rule as well as the other three on the list were not being followed. Like most of the shops, of those not retired, projects, equipment, and supplies were strewn about. This is the shop at the Sangre de Cristo Seminary. I asked the Dr. Andrew Zeller about the sign and my suspicion was confirmed, DFZ stood for Dwight Zeller, his father. “Any time he mentions the condition of my shop, I remind of his…” was the next phrase in our conversation.

All though it is often difficult to find something such scenes are normal across the land, from farm shops to my dad’s backyard shop, all feel about the same, and have similar issues. Only the owner can find anything, but only if his kids haven’t found a way to “help”. Such things are only issues if work is being done. The Proverbs point to the frank reality that if work is to be done, some level of mess is going to happen. Our clean, quiet, and well-organized shops cannot remain so once you actually wish to do the work. Saw dust will be everywhere, oil will get on the floor, parts boxes/bags will be scattered about, this is the nature of work. Much like having your cake and eating it too, you can’t have a clean shop and do work also.

Church is easy and we might even enjoy going for a time, but the mandate of the kingdom will require work. That work will mean it will get messy often and the mess might not get completely cleaned up before another one happens. Yet, if work is to be done, if the kingdom is to grow, if God is to be glorified among us, then messes are going to be needed. Sin will have to be addressed, personal and corporate, relationships will have to be worked on, real effort will be required.

As I look at my shop, I often see more of a sluggard starting projects and then being to lazy to clean up afterwards. So ready to be done that the work of putting tools back where they go takes a back seat to enjoying other things. Yet, in our churches we must recognize that not cleaning up the mess means, past hurts, slights, and sins continue to ruin the ability to do all the work being asked. That when others choose to visit, the hurts and slights are palpable. We can’t be so afraid of making a mess that we don’t start, nor can we be so sluggardly that we choose not to finish the work of putting our shop back in order.

Let us not grow weary in well doing. Let us do the work of the evangelist. It is ours to go and make disciples, and that is a lot of messy work. “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!’” meaning its to dangerous to leave my house and work. Let us not join the sluggard, let God find us faithful with the time we are given.

Coram Deo