Last week I had the privilege of talking with Max Lucado. I was trying to make some career decisions and asked Max if I could run some things by him. He was waiting to get a root canal and for some reason was still willing (and even happy) to talk to me. I can’t imagine. Nevertheless, we talked, and I’m glad we did. One of the decisions I was in the middle of making regarded walking away from a great career opportunity because it just didn’t feel like it fit my personality. I felt like I needed to stay home and write books and not do a whole lot more. The opportunity I was declining was remarkable and it would offer me a larger platform. Max told me he’d made a similar decision years before, to stop doing a radio show because, even though it was a very good project, it just wasn’t his sweet spot. He needed to stay home and write books. It would be hard to argue he made a bad business decision. Even though he’s let go of perhaps many opportunities to expand his platform he’s remained focussed on what God has gifted him to do, and he’s sold more than sixty-million books. When you sit down with Max, there’s nothing about him that gives you the feeling he’s trying to get ahead. He’s calm, he’s at peace, and he’s plowing his little field.
Years ago, when Rick McKinley started the church plant Imago-Dei in Portland, he preached a sermon about his own experiences in the first year. At the time, the church may have only had a couple-hundred people attending. He said he thought things would be more exciting, that there would be fireworks all the time. But as he prayed about building the church, he realized that telling a great story is a lot like farming. He recalled hunting on some property in Eastern Oregon, sitting in a duck blind, watching a farmer a couple fields away just driving his tractor back and forth. Rick said that is what building a church looks like, it looks like farming. It figures, because, well, God invented farming. Now, Imago-Dei has a couple thousand people attending, and the ministry affects nearly every corner of Portland. But it happened slowly, with a farmer who kept driving his tractor back and forth in a small field.
So two questions I’m asking myself these days are what is my field to plow, and am I plowing it?
Over the next ten years, I’d like to write a book each year. That may change because I certainly can’t control the future, but I’d really like to get a little plot of land going, and I know it takes time. There will be opportunities to plow a larger field, and some farmers have it in them to do so. They are good managers of people and technology and so forth, but, to be honest, I’m not. I’m a good writer, or at least I hope to be some day. My sweet spot involves sitting down every day and getting a little something going in the typewriter. That’s all I know how to do.
The bigger field calls to me sometimes. I look at my peers and I get jealous. But if I tried to do what they did, I know I’d fail. I just can’t manage it. God did not give me that story to tell.
So my question to you is, what’s your field, and are you plowing it? Are you plowing too little? Are you plowing too much? What’s your sweet spot, and in ten years, will you have a small orchard that can feed your family and some of your friends? What’s your land to toil?
And even though we don’t know each other, I’m going to take a risk and answer some of these questions for you.
1. If you have a family, if you are married with kids, that’s a field to plow. If a larger field is calling you away from your family field, then you don’t have it in you to plow it, so let it go. Your family comes first. Further the plot in that story. Get your wife some flowers, go fishing with your kids, plow the field God has given you. Andy Stanley says that in life, your family is going to suffer or your work is going to suffer, so choose. Your work life are those three rows of beans, the rest is your family, I think, and the work rows can’t replace the family rows. I know it will feel like you are giving up something, and the truth is you are, but how do we really know what God may do with our faithfulness. The image I get in my head, often, when I think about Max Lucado, is the image of the boy with the bread and fish. The boy had a small amount of food, but Jesus used it to feed thousands. Sometimes I see Max tending a small patch of strawberry bushes. It’s just a small plot of land, and he doesn’t tend more, and he doesn’t tend less, because he has a family and a church and, well, a social life too. But God takes that little plot of Strawberry bushes and feeds millions. Your job isn’t to feed millions, it’s to tend the land God has given you, no more, no less. If He wants to feed millions, He will. But that’s no guarantee. We don’t know what God will or won’t do.
2. Plow the field God gave you. This is going to be a bit controversial, but I’m just going to say it. God gave you a heart, a wellspring of delight and desire. That heart can be corrupted, for sure, but God also speaks to you and through you through that heart. If you are given an amazing opportunity to become rich and famous, but you aren’t looking forward to the work, ask yourself if God put a heart inside you to do that work. If not, let it go, no matter what the cost. Now here I’m going to get really controversial: If you have an opportunity to “build God’s kingdom” in some massive way, but the work is like pulling teeth, I think you have to really ask yourself if that is what God is calling you to do. There are times (Jonah) when the problem isn’t the work, it’s you. But there are also times when the problem is the work itself, namely that the work just isn’t for you. I firmly believe that God calls people into work, gives them a heart to do things, that seem to have nothing to do with the kingdom, and furthermore, nobody will ever be able to figure out why it is God would have them do it. Except this: Nothing speaks more powerfully than a person who has been set free to do the work he loves. There’s some gospel truth in there somewhere. I like to look at it this way, I pray and ask God “where the wind is blowing.” If the wind is blowing in a Christian book that helps people’s faith, I write that book, and if the wind is blowing on a novel that has nothing to do with faith at all, I write that book, and I’m free and I love it and I thank God he gave me the work and let me do what I love.
3. You will have to work with consistency and faithfulness. A farmer farms a field, and if he misses a week of work, everything falls apart. If the seeds aren’t in the ground when the rain comes, the crops don’t grow. Our faith is not about magic, it’s about partnering with God to see remarkable things happen through faithfulness and consistency over a long-period of time. If we buy into the instant-results mindset of our culture (that is depressed and confused itself) we will become very frustrated with God. God has a system for growing food. If one farmer does no work, but prays and sings to God, and another farmer does work, and does not pray or sing to God, then the farmer who prayed will starve and the farmer who worked will eat, because even though the second farmer didn’t acknowledge God, he understood God’s ways and he adhered to the principles God created. The first farmer was just looking for a magic show.
4. Stop measuring your crops. This is a tough one for me. I confess I check to see how many retweets I’ve had or comments on blogs, but none of this has anything to do with farming. I’d much rather fall in love with my work, and get up and do it for the works sake than do it for the notoriety. To be honest, no number I’ve seen online has pleased me. Never. But you know what has consistently brought me pleasure, sitting down and having written a good little story. Fame is fickle, and it will come and go. If you associate your identity with the fashion trends of a fickle public, you are going to go insane. I’m leaning to keep my head down and plow my field.
Thanks so much for letting me ramble. I needed to get these thoughts down so I could understand them better myself.
[...] Miller speaks of our need to remain responsible for the areas within our influence, in his blog yesterday. “If you have a family…” he [...]
Wondering as I read this at the arrival by snail mail of the Convergence sampler. Is that the career opportunity away from which you are walking? Too bad. Like the idea of Convergence…
I guess they say you can only do or “plow” six to seven things in your life – well. I think about this and remember that half the list is comprised of keeping myself alive, being a follower of Jesus, and pursuing relationship/community. So what does that leave me…one or two things to passionately and intentionally pursue. Funny that those are often then things I find myself avoiding.
Your words are timely as I have recently been prayerfully planning the story I want to tell within God’s story. It takes courage and humility to do several things well rather than anxiously try to plow the fields of those you see around you.
Thanks for being faithful to get the words out today.
i like your comment on family being your field to plow. that needs to be stressed more often
It is amazing that even Donald wonders if he is having an impact. As a traveling musician I do a lot of watering and planting but am not usually around to do the harvesting. Thanks again Don for being real and letting us know we are not alone in our thoughts and struggles to be a difference in this world. Love your work and certainly hope you do give us a book per year. I’m ready!
just adding a comment… because you check that stuff.
seriously though, great thoughts; especially on the family.
[...] My days aren’t filled with scavenging for paid gigs; now I’m beginning to think about being strategic with my time and energy, and only following up on jobs that make sense for me.Trusting God will inevitably mean persevering [...]
Thanks, Don. Keep plowing that field! I appreciate your writing more than you’ll ever know. Thanks for the encouragement during a difficult season of life.
As a struggling blogger and speaker I resonated with what you said in this post.
It is beyond challenging to not wish we had that other farmer’s field… and to know God is in charge of the ultimate crop we reap. I think above all things I have learned of late is this: if we are transparent about our true struggles (and successes) as followers of Christ, we will bless others abundantly – no matter how big a field that we are working. And if we can encourage others to keep trudging thru the fields even during a drought we will be honoring our commitment to the greater community, just like in Acts.
I am humbly reminded that GOD alone is in charge of my ministry, every day. I just get to join him and do what I love and gives me satisfaction. Why am I always obsessed then with the crop????
Thank you for the post – and even more so – the TRANSPARENCY. It is always worth the risk- it blessed me today. (and interestingly when I was “transparent” in a blog today, someone wanted to know what is wrong? – there is always a risk, huh?) God is enough.
THANK YOU God for using Don today and letting him do what he loves to bless me and countless others.
This blog was fantastic. I love the part on consistency and faithfulness. I’m currently reading Anne Lamott’s book, “Bird by Bird,” and in it, she talks about getting your daily “1 inch picture frame” worth of writing down for the day, and from that more will come if it is supposed to.
I was wondering if, as a writer, you’ve ever struggled with blocking out the second voice..that voice that contradicts your thoughts and sentences as you write. This “voice” holds me back from uploading my thoughts onto my blog..or sharing my writings with more than a few friends. I was curious if you’ve struggled with this and how you’ve pushed through it to continue writing.
thanks:) -sarah
I found your books in one the darkest times in my life, and your thoughts and words spoke what I was trying to. I would certainly welcome a book a year and devour each one as readily as all the others.
“our faith is not about magic”, greatly summarizes my frustration and presents relief to keep moving about in my field. sometimes it’s really annoying when the other dude is praying though
Thank you for posting this! As someone who is going through a quarter life crisis, I needed so badly to hear this today! Just more proof that your words touch many lives and you should stay home and write.
So happy to hear that you want to put out a book a year!!!
Please pray for my son, Jonathan. Recent test results, coupled with other symptoms, have given his mother & I great cause for concern. The words “masses,” “lymph nodes,” & “significant finding” were used in the report. He is 11. Please pray for both healing and grace. Thanks.
Thanks Don. This helped.
very inspiring. remembering to do what I do best is hard sometimes. but stuff like this helps. thanks.
Crapola. This chit hits me right between the eyes. God, show us where to labor for the harvest.
Sometimes I wonder if my plot really has anything to do with a career. I’ve been looking for a new job lately, and reflecting on the jobs I have had. I wonder if my plot has more to do with the people I am encountering along the way. The ones that I am influencing or are influencing me. It is making me more aware of the lives and the people I interact with on a daily basis. For so long I have just thought of work as work, not necessarily a career or calling. Maybe the calling is to the people, not the work. Just a thought.
Thanks for all your words Don, they really do mean a lot.
I just found your blog and am very happy about it! I just finished reading “Blue Like Jazz” and I love it. It rocked my heart. So I am happy to find I can keep reading your insight as you live “in your sweet spot”. As I read your book, I wished I were friends with you.
Thanks! Love the thoughts especially the line “nothing speaks more powerfully than a person who has been set free to do the work he loves ” – I’ve thought about this blog a lot this week. It flows alongside the words from the Book of Esther “for such a time as this”. Now is the time to farm the land God has appointed for me!
Don, thank you so much. I sat down at work an hour ago and had a long talk about this very thing. Everyone went to lunch and I stayed behind to think, and fortunately thought to check for new posts from you. While I may not have all my answers yet (I know no one does, but I crazily expect different for myself) but I do feel more solid and at peace. I hope you are, too.
[...] http://donmilleris.com/2010/02/14/following-god-and-farming/ [...]
[...] That post can be found here at: http://donmilleris.com/2010/02/14/following-god-and-farming/ [...]
Looking for rest. If there are two wills there can be no peace. If our will is not subjected to God’s will, we won’t find rest. So He tells us “come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Our rest can only be found in the Fathers will. Do we really believe that the Father’s will is better than our own? If we occupy ourselves with knowing God and His word we will come to know what His glory and His grace and His power is. This should enlighten us to the fact His will is better than ours. Put him first and careers will not matter as they are of man.
A friend introduced me to your blog with this post. We’ve been talking for weeks about exactly this, so she passed it on last night. I’m also helping another friend edit a book. Chapter 3 is almost entirely about what you’ve written, but with different examples and a completely different angle. As I read her section on “the love chapter” of the Bible, I applied it to my work life (and my friend’s search for work) for the first time. I had always thought about 1 Corinthians 13 in a relational context, more of a “love your neighbor” chapter or a “this is the way God loves us” chapter. However, reading the first three verses through “finding a job” or “pursuing a career” lenses, I realized, if we don’t love what we do, we: “have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal,” we are “nothing,” and it “profits [us] nothing.” So, yeah, there IS some Gospel truth in this post. And I’m really, really glad you wrote it for all to read.
thanks for the encouraging words.
“Working with consistency and faithfulness” Always the tough one, especially during the dry spells. Sarah Beckman wrote above about trudging through the fields even in the drought and she is so right. Those are the times that shape us and hurl our character forward if we’ll keep working. I love it! (No,not the drought…but the growth because of it) Reminds me of Angus Buchan in “Faith Like Potatoes.”
Good stuff.
Ironic that I stumbled upon this tonight…As a sometime appreciator of your work, sometime not, I am walking this week into a new field…leaving full-time work for part-time and trying to figure out how bills will be paid and how I can live the expected life, whilst plowing a new field. So, all that to say, thanks.
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed you Monday night in Nashville. I think I’m the only person in town, esp in the music world who hasn’t read Blue Like Jazz…. I know I could be hung for such heresy, but my 16 year old son read it a few years ago and loved it. I came Monday night to hear David Wilcox who I’ve been a fan of for many years, but I left as a new fan of yours. Thanks again for coming and for supporting the work of Porters Call. I’m also not a blog reader, but stumbled onto this tonight via a friend’s fb page. I’m a guest worship leader at Max’s church frequently and admire him greatly. So glad you had some time with him…. as you saw, he’s the real deal. Keep farming:) Peace to you, kim
Dude…this resonates deeply. One of my favorite Oswald Chambers messages is “God’s Purpose or Mine?” (http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/07/28/devotion.aspx)
“God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.”
I was contemplating something similar this morning in my quiet time…writing about how I must be careful in how I define success. One word, one life…who knows how much impact? It could be much simpler than we think.
Just wanted to say thanks for these thoughts. This comes at a good time for me as I’m standing at a kind of crossroads in here my “field” and a question of which way to go.
When you say, “I like to look at it this way, I pray and ask God “where the wind is blowing.” If the wind is blowing in a Christian book that helps people’s faith, I write that book, and if the wind is blowing on a novel that has nothing to do with faith at all, I write that book, and I’m free and I love it and I thank God he gave me the work and let me do what I love.” I think I’m seeing there may be another direction to go that I hadn’t even thought of! For me I think the question I need to answer is not, which field do I plow in? But rather, which way is the wind blowing? Your comments have caused me to consider the answer to that question may be different from day to day.
Again… thanks for sharing this… cheers!
Thank you. I haven’t worked in just over a year, a year that has felt like recuperation from too much plowing, too much producing for others while bankrupting my soul. 41 years of too much. Maybe it is OK for me to just sit awhile and get to know my family. Your writing has enriched my life many times, in many ways, so I thank you for sharing this precious gift.
[...] me think a lot and almost always makes me see something in a different way. I just finished reading this post and I wanted to share it with you all because…well, it is really life changing if you let it [...]
I was just thinking of this post today after hearing some exciting news from a friend.
At times I feel as thought I’m a jack of all trades, and master of none. And its difficult to work on polishing different skills without seeing any results.
It’s sad to admit this, but I get even more frustrated when I see someone else doing something I enjoy, while also seeing results of their work. They get promotions and excel in crafts that I am more than capable of doing..and even…possibly doing it better.It keeps me from being completely happy for them.
It may sound wrong to claim that, and its probably only something that God can help me with.
I guess what I’m saying is, is that it’s difficult to see what I’m called to do when theres nothing I’m excelling in. I get discouraged when I don’t have the opportunities others are being exposed to. I feel as though my talents and passions are being stolen and invaded upon.
I get scared that my passions will end up being aimless and mediocre.
Hey Elizabeth…
Couple of thoughts here that may encourage; some things I am learning…
God validates…others can only affirm His validation. God gives us the desires of our heart…meaning He plants them there. The simplicity of life is profound…my dependence starts in God (birth, breath, heartbeart and more)…and must continue in Him always…
Not trying to sound like I have it all worked out…just trying to encourage…I have struggled in the same way…
“[The God of All Comfort] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
I’ve never taken the time to comment on a blog before but I’m sitting here w/this huge lump in my throat like I do every time I read your stuff. I could sit here and list the million reasons why your writing gets to me the way it does, but a little boy is calling me to read him a story. Thanks for reminding me to be content w/the story I’ve been called to.
-Grace & Peace
Oh this is so good! Like one of the others commented, I have a huge lump in my throat. I do after reading everything you write, but this especially. I so love it when God speaks to me through others. Powerful!!
In Christ,
Leslie
Just saying thanks for the article. I am just discovering your writing and really appreciating it.
The Olympics depress me just a little bit. As much as I admire and enjoy the competition and challenges–the highs and the lows of it all–there has always been a part of me that was a little sad. Examining closer, I realized it was difficult seeing so many who had found life’s call and irrevocably applied themselves. I was jealous.
There are so many things I would like to be good at. Why wasn’t I a downhill skier or speed skater? Must be because I’m too lazy and unwilling to commit myself. Finally, I realized I wasn’t called to any of those pursuits. It sounds silly (and it is), but I was comforted by the fact that it didn’t matter if I had been given skills (which I hadn’t) or whether or not I possessed the commitment to be an Olympic bobsledder (which I don’t). The fact is…I am where God wants me. What a freeing thought. Now what am I going to do with it? Remembering to plow my own field is a great image and one I’m sure I will use in the future. Thanks!
I am not one to post (and am almost proud of that fact), but since finding your blog last week (especially Read These Seven Books, and You’ll Be a Better Writer), I have challenged myself to posting something once a day. Writing means putting yourself out there, and that is the part that challenges me the most.
[...] My days aren’t filled with scavenging for paid gigs; now I’m beginning to think about being strategic with my time and energy, and only following up on jobs that make sense for me.Trusting God will inevitably mean persevering [...]
I love you, Donald Miller!
Every blogger loves comments…
Thanks for your honesty always…
[...] few months ago I read a post on Donald Miller’s blog about “plowing your field.” At the time I thought it applied to pretty much everyone but me, but reading it late last [...]
This spoke to me much. Thanks, Don.
Looking at the fact that you posted this back in February and today, 6 months later, a friend sends me a link to this post of yours, something that I needed to hear.
Chalk it up to that lesson in patience and perseverance.
Blessings to a fellow farmer. Thanks for sharing your own crops.
I read this when it was first posted earlier this year and I consistently think about it and talk to people about it. I think this is the most beautiful and practical explanation of life. I’ve found it difficult lately to not want to be farming the plot of land that is a marriage, but I know in my heart that if I were farming there I would be missing out on an abundant crop that is in its growing season now. God has blessed me with a job that helps people and I enjoy doing it. I couldn’t bare to make it just a couple of rows in my field.