By Penny Biddy

Last year my brothers and I put together a slide show of music and family photos for our mom’s birthday. Some of the photos, pictures of my childhood and teenage years, were held in family photo albums from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Stored on phones, laptops, and online folders were more recent pictures of my mom with the grandkids, and me and my brothers as adults. As I looked at pictures from different stages of my life, I remember thinking two things: Back then, I couldn’t wait for those seasons to be over. Now, I would give anything to relive them for just a moment. 

The little girl I saw in those pictures wanted so badly to grow up, to go off and start adventures in the “real world.” And the young mom with little kids I saw in the later pictures was buried under the exhaustion and chaos of those early years of parenting. I seem to remember always looking forward to the next thing. To graduating, getting married, or, after the kids were born, to being able to leave the house for more than an hour at a time! There were so many hard things in each of those stages of my life, just like there are hard things now. But there were wonderful things too, things that I miss. More than anything else, there were people that I miss, that I would give anything to see again.

The lesson of the pictures isn’t that I was wrong to want the things I looked forward to in my future. It’s not that there weren’t real frustrations or sources of pain in those stages of life that I am glad are over now. The lesson learned from looking at my old family photos is that in every season of life, there are things to long for and dream of, and also many, many precious things that will not last forever. The lesson of the pictures is a fresh resolve to notice and rejoice in those precious things at every season and stage of life, and to remember that nothing, not the hard things and not the beautiful things, will last forever. My hope for each stage of life is to receive its gifts with love and appreciation.

Because I’m a pastor, most of my experiences make me think of the church. (Actually, that’s probably backwards. It’s more accurate to say that because everything makes me think of church, I became a pastor). So, it wasn’t long before I made connections between these lessons and my experiences in ministry. What would the lesson of the pictures be for churches and the people who fill them?

 Churches are often waiting for the next big thing. The new pastor, the new building, the big wave of growth in attendance, etc. Sometimes we let our future hopes overshadow the joy of the moment. Do we ever long for church growth so much that we miss the chance to love the people who are already here? Do we ever get so focused on “fixing” a program or event that we don’t rejoice over what God has already accomplished in it? Do we worry so much about expanding our budgets that we forget that we serve the God who multiplied the loaves and fishes? Are we so busy deciding where the church should be in five years that we do not notice the opportunities we have in front of us in the moment? Are we seeking what God wants to do in us now, exactly as we are, or are we waiting to be changed into something else we think is better?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that churches shouldn’t make careful plans or set goals and hopes for the future. Reaching and serving the world that God loves requires planning, and if we don’t do it, we are not good stewards of God’s gifts. My hope, though, is that as we make the plans that must be made for the future of the church, we remain intentional about loving and celebrating the churches that we have in the present.

Make no mistake, the churches we have now will change someday, in ways we plan for and in ways we did not see coming. The congregations we worship with today, with all their needs, flaws, and gifts, will be the setting that a generation of churchgoers will remember as the “good old days gone by.” As we look forward to the future, we need or think we need, I wonder what we will miss when this season is over? What are the ministry opportunities we have now?  Who are the people God is calling us to serve just as we are? Most of all, who are the people that surround us in our congregations, and how is God using us to change each other’s lives? Whatever your current experience of church looks like, it won’t last forever, so I pray we don’t miss the chance to love our church families while we have them.

It is good, even necessary, for churches to dream big dreams for the future. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the truth that because of God’s grace and provision to us, we already have exactly what we need in order to be a faithful church today. We are already equipped to love God and each other, to serve God together and use the resources we have right now to show God’s love to the world. As we dream faithfully for the future of our congregations, let’s never forget to rejoice over the churches we have right now. 

Penny Biddy is pastor of Brook Hollow Christian Church