Fill the Chairs, Finish the Work

The chairs in this house were filled by God, and then emptied again by sending, so that others could fill them. The people who fill them are planted and faithful where God puts them, and they finish what they started. Some fill a chair by staying, trusting the Lord, doing good, dwelling in the land, and tending faithfulness like a shepherd tends a flock. Some fill a chair by going, refusing to be disobedient to the heavenly vision, even when it feels like being drawn back on the bow. The Father is the gardener, and He prunes the branch He means to use, so the pain of this season is labor, not death, and something is being born. The fruit that lasts comes from the vine and not from us, and God builds the house while we remain faithful in it. Eagerness is not the finish line, so we do not grow weary, and we finish what we began. Death works in us so that life can work in others, and nobody has ever filled a chair by quitting.