If you wait for the perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. God’s ways are as mysterious as the pathway of the wind, and as the manner in which a human spirit is infused into the little body of a baby while it is in its mothers womb. Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow — perhaps it all will!
This is one of the most valuable life lessons God ever taught me. All of us, no matter who we are, can bemoan our present circumstances. We often waste so much time simply daydreaming about how we’d like things to be or even wishing things were the way they used to be. We find ourselves wishing for a better situation, or the ideal circumstances to take specific actions, or implement certain plans. We think to ourselves, if only I could change this, or change that, then things would be really good. This is a great mistake people make with their lives. It paralyzes them into inaction. They keep wishing, hoping for the ideal, instead of making the most of their now!
In 1983, several years into married life, with a couple kids and a third on the way, we found ourselves in extremely difficult financial circumstances. We could no longer afford our $190 a month rental house, so I began looking at mobile homes to rent. A friend called to offer us his trailer as a gift. It was a functional, older trailer in the most rundown trailer park in town. But, it was only $73 a month in lot rent, and would help us literally survive. We accepted with deep gratitude. I had hoped by now I would already be a pastor, serving in the church, and able to better provide for my family. That was not the case.
We moved our little family into that trailer park. There were weeds everywhere, junk in the parking lot, and mud with weeds had grown up around the curb, on the old black top by our trailer. There were unmowed lawns and nothing of beauty at all, to speak of. I decided then and there that my wife and I would make this our mission field. We would bring life to that dark place. Though I was working 70 plus hours a week, I was determined to make the very most of our now, and our present circumstances and do something positive for that trailer park. I bought an old lawn mower for $25 bucks, and weekly mowed the field next to the trailers. First, we had to walk through that field picking up all the rocks, cans, trash, and the weeds were knee high. We made it a place little kids could play. We found a free, older used swing set and moved it to the edge of the field for the trailer park kids. Then we walked around that parking lot, Kathy holding a bag while I took a shovel and scraped up all the mud and weeds growing there. I purchased approx. 50 flowers and planted them in front of our little trailer. There were literally no flowers anywhere in that whole rundown trailer park. Several trailers were in fact boarded up. I found a giant rock pile by the side of the road in the country, and picked out almost a hundred stones to make a border around all the flowers we planted. I mowed our lawn, the neighbor’s lawn, and my wife took fresh baked cookies to neighbors that surrounded us. We brought light, life, kindness and beauty to this rundown, neglected place. Instead of wishing we could live in a nice, Ames neighborhood, in a nice, lovely little house, we made the very most of what God gave us. We thought of our little trailer as our Little House on the Prairie. I found new carpet samples in a garbage dumpster, brought them home and stapled them on the floor of my children’s tiny room. They loved it. A situation that could have become a terrible experience, became a treasured memory to us, a defining moment in our faith!
I’ve never forgotten that incredible life lesson. It’s been my go to strategy for everything in my life all these years. For my health, my fitness, my finances, my car, my home, my marriage, my family, my circumstances and my ministry work.
Never wait for the ideal before you act. Always make the most of now!
Here are photos of our little trailer, the rocks, the newly planted flowers and the field I cleared and mowed for the trailer kids to play in.
