Ministry work in an international setting can include many different tasks. Some are more enticing, such as sharing the gospel, discipling others, teaching English, participating in feeding programs, playing with orphans, and organizing large events. However, in order for these ministries to be effective, someone has to do the less celebrated tasks, such as cleaning the toilets, preparing the meals, and even shoveling poo. Today, my team did just that . . . we shoveled compost manure, or as we like to call it, poo! While it isn’t the most enticing or celebrated ministry task, it was a necessary task in support of our ministry partners here in Mozambique . . . and I contend that any task can be pleasant when done with friends and done oceanfront. 
While working today, I started to think about how crazy it is that the manure was the valuable final layer that we needed to spread in order to create the soil necessary for things to grow. We had brought in and spread loads of red dirt over the sand for the past couple of days, but alone that did not create a soil where things could grow. It needed the layer of manure. Manure is something that is referred to as waste and is in most situations undesirable, yet in this context it was the essential ingredient to produce growth.
How similar is this to the struggles or challenging situations that we experience in our lives? All too often we view the times of struggle, poor choices, hardship, and even abuse in our lives as parts that we could do without and would like to be able to avoid or at least forget. These situations are undesirable and are essentially the “poo” that we want to dispose of. However, when I look back at my life I realize that these situations and the resulting lessons were essential to my spiritual and emotional growth. I would not be the person that I am today without the “poo” in my life and I bet most of you would say the same.
Just as the manure, the waste of the animals, is used to nourish the soil and cause things to grow . . . so can God use the undesirable “poo” in our lives to stimulate our personal growth. This growth enables us to mature and fulfill a greater purpose than we would have otherwise. It’s all about finding the proper way to deal with and use the poo!
