Don’t Grow Weary in Doing Good: Even in Dead Plants + Dead Ends
“The work doesn’t change, but the project does.”
Lisa Whittle said this yesterday in her writing community that I’m a part of. She was answering a question about when to give up on a writing project. When do you know it’s time to shut down the podcast, stop trying to get the book published, table the speaking engagements?
When do you say “we gave it a go” and let that thing rest?
It’s a hard question.
Lisa told us to vet our work, to make it as good as it can be. Maybe by getting feedback from a writing group or allowing an editor to slash your draft with red ink or swallowing your pride and paying for a business coach. If after all that–after doing everything “right”–your thing is spinning, going nowhere, then it’s okay to grieve and lay that project to rest.
“But don’t stop writing,” she encouraged us. “The writing is the real work and that doesn’t change. The project can shift, but the call remains.”
Lisa was talking about writing, but we know this applies to all of life. Often we don’t know why things don’t work out. Why that guy never calls you back or you don’t get the job interview? Sometimes you do all the right things and it still doesn’t go as you hope. The relationship ends. Homeschooling is a flop. Your workplace closes. You get sick. You spend three months trying to get your basil plant to produce enough leaves to top a pizza, but the squirrels are the only ones feasting.
Your passion dims and then…fizzes out entirely.
Paul wasn’t talking about writing groups or rodent-chewed basil plants, but he knew the ache of putting in the work and wondering if it mattered. In the first century the apostle Paul challenged the believers of Galatia with these words.
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. -Galatians 6:9
“At just the right time” God will bring the harvest. It’s easy to get fatigued, to feel frustrated that your efforts are going (seemingly) unnoticed. It gets harder to cheer for others when they receive what you want with (seeming) ease.
In Paul’s final chapter of encouragement to the Galatian believers he challenges to keep showing up. Keep doing the planting, the weeding, the watering–keep at the stuff that no one sees. Carry on loading the dishwasher, changing the diaper, showing up at staff meetings, and writing the next chapter no one’s reading yet.
“You will always harvest what you plant.” -Galatians 6:7b
This Scripture is a warning: if you sow junk you will reap junk. If you sow shallow, you will reap shallow. If you sow sarcasm, you’ll reap tension at home. If you sow doomscrolling, you’ll reap anxiety. But if you sow kind words, generosity, and assuming the best in others…it adds up too. Sometimes with visible blessings (like new jobs! book deals! kids that get along!) and also with spiritual blessings we can’t fully see YET, like peace, perspective, and patience.
God isn’t put out by our feelings–we can fully mourn our heartaches without fear of disappointing Him. A scrapped project or a pay cut or a “not right now” hurts.
But we keep at the work. The mission doesn’t change, the work continues–it’s just shaped a little differently. Maybe that project had to fail, so the next one could succeed. (Just like Edison and all his light bulbs.) Maybe that failure wasn’t a dead end—it was God handing you a blueprint for next time.
Maybe the gift of not succeeding right out of the gate is we get to try again with stronger boundaries, a refusal to take ourselves too seriously, and a little red wagon’s worth of wisdom. While you may have to let go of the project, don’t let go of the work Jesus has for you. The harvest will be worth it.
Thank you for your encouragement!