Do we sometimes have a problem getting started?  Gloria Pitzer wrote: “Procrastination is my sin. It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will tomorrow.”  But an old Spanish proverb says: “Manana is often the busiest day of the week.” 

Friends, Don’t we sometimes have a problem GETTING STARTED? 
-That big messy pile in your garage? –Fixing that broken fence? –Painting that room? –Mowing?
-Stack of documents/pictures needing filing?  -Balancing chequebook?  -Taxes?  -Will?
-Calling that friend?  -Having so-and-so over?  -Taking the kids to that place they wanted to go?
-Getting oil changed?  -Putting that scrapbook together?  -Reading that book on your pile?
-Staring at those running shoes instead of running?  -Exercise program?  -A good diet?
How about…
-Starting that daily Bible reading habit?  -Getting back into your prayer life?  -In Bible study?
-Inviting that friend to church?  -Getting involved in some ministry?  Some Kingdom work?

I believe that we all have a problem getting started with something.  WHY?  Is it that we can’t see the value of taking some of these habits or projects up?  Is it that we are just lazy?  Is it that we are overwhelmed because the project we’re avoiding looks like a giant looming over us?  Or is it that we are just afraid?

Jesus’ disciples had a problem getting started.  Jesus had just ascended into heaven & left them alone with the mountain-sized mission He had given them:  To be his witnesses in all the world, telling all people about how God loved them by sending Jesus into this world to live and die for us.  OK, that’s a fairly giant-sized job.  They had plenty to do for the rest of their lives!

But now they were just standing there, staring up at the sky.  Two angels came and asked: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”  Were they just hoping He was going to come back right away? C’mon, Jesus, don’t really leave us to do this by ourselves… Were they just wanting his kingdom to come right then and there?  Gents, why are you just standing there?  You have a job to do!  A big one!

Well, what do you think?  Did they not see the value of carrying out Jesus’ great commission?  Were they just lazy?  Were they overwhelmed?  Or were they afraid?  Did they lack trust?  Maybe a combination of all of those?

Have you heard the story of when Jesus got to heaven after his ascension, and the angels asked Him: “Did You accomplish your task?”  “Yes, all is finished,” the Lord replied.  Then the angels asked, “Has the whole world heard of You?”  “No,” said Jesus.  The angels next asked, “Then what is your plan?” Jesus said, “I left twelve men and some other followers to carry the message to the whole world.”  The angels looked at Him and asked:  “What is your plan B?”

We have the same problem the disciples had of not always being able to get started, don’t we?  When we look our daily lives, and the unfinished projects around our home, we’d have to admit it.  But I am going to guess this is even more true sometimes in the mission that God has given us to do.  Sometimes those messy piles around our house or those neglected running shoes get attended to sooner and easier than our spiritual lives do!

Has this pattern ever emerged in your life?
-not getting started with your spiritual growth plan?  Your daily devotion to God’s Word?
-not getting started with a better habit of church attendance?
-not getting started with talking about your faith to that neighbour who needs to hear it?
-not getting started with finally just joining that Bible study?
-not getting started with addressing your giving habits and becoming more generous?
-not getting started with jumping in and getting involved helping in a certain ministry?

Why is this?  Doesn’t this prove we’re afraid?  We lack trust?  Lack commitment?  We lack faith?  Ultimately, when we just can’t get started on the mission God has given us, it proves all of those things!  It proves there is a bigger problem behind all of this in our lives!.  We’re sinful.  We’ve failed being what God wants us to be.  We’ve failed getting started.

But praise God, Christ got started for us!  He got started coming to this earth, going about his perfect life, He got started doing his Father’s business, got started teaching and preaching and healing, got started training and developing his disciples, and got started on the road to Jerusalem and to the cross.  He got started and got finished paying for all our sins, all our procrastination, all our failures to get started, all our fear and lack of faith, and gave us forgiveness and life instead!  His new start, his resurrection, means a new start for us all!

So now, let’s get started!  Let’s get started on the mission Jesus gave us!  Let’s get started being his witnesses in this world.

There’s a neat true story I want to share with you:  A mother lived two hours away from her daughter, Carolyn, who lived up in the San Bernardino Mountains of California.  And several times one spring, Carolyn phoned and said, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.”  The mother was reluctant to go, avoiding the two hour drive, but finally gave in on her daughter’s third call.  She said she would come the next Tuesday.

Next Tuesday was cold and rainy.  But she made the trip.  Despite the fog, she was happy to get their and see her wonderful grandchildren.  But she told her daughter, “Forget the daffodils!  The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!”  Carolyn smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”  Noticing her mom’s hesitation, she said, “You aren’t leaving until you see the daffodils.  It’s just a few blocks.  I’ll drive.  I’m used to this.”  “Carolyn, just turn around, it isn’t worth it!”  “It’ll be all right, Mother. I promise.  You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After a 20-minute drive, they turned onto a small gravel road and saw a small church.  On the far side of the church, they saw a hand-lettered sign with an arrow that read, “Daffodil Garden.”  They got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and walked down a path.  As they turned a corner, Carolyn’s mother looked up and gasped.  Before her lay the most glorious sight!  (show image)  It looked as if someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and surrounding slopes.  The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow.  Each different-coloured variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.  There were 5 acres of flowers.

“Who did this?” the mother asked Carolyn.  “Just one woman,” Carolyn answered.  “She lives on the property.  That’s her home.”  Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory.  They walked up to the house.  On the patio, they saw a poster.  “Answers to the Questions I Know You’re Asking” was the headline.  The first answer was a simple one.  “50,000 bulbs,” it read.  The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman.  Two hands, two feet, and one brain.”  The third answer was “Began in 1958.”

For Carolyn’s mother, that moment was a life-changing experience.  She thought of this woman whom she had never met, who, more than 40 years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop.  Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived.  One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. 

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration: Learning to move toward our goals one small baby step at a time, and learning to love the doing, learning to use the time we’ve been given.  When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things.  We can change the world!

Carolyn’s mother said to her, “It makes me sad in a way…what I might have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal 35 or 40 years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years?  Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”  Her daughter summed up our message today:  “Start tomorrow,” she said.

That’s right.  Let’s get started!  And as much beauty as daffodils bring into the world, it doesn’t compare to how much beauty the love of Christ brings into the world.  You can bring that love into the world, you can change the world with His beauty, “one bulb at a time.”  Let’s get started!  -Reading that Bible!  -Praying more often.  -Being at church more regularly.  -Influencing a friend, influencing a child.  –witnessing your faith.  -Living with more conviction.  –Planting new life in others.  One bulb at a time.  One day at a time.

Stop waiting until…your car or home is paid off.  You get a new car or home.  Your kids leave the house.  You go back to school.  You finish school.  You clean the house.  You organize the garage.  You clean off your desk.  You lose 10 pounds.  You gain 10 pounds.  You get married.  You have kids.  The kids go to school.  You retire.  Summer.  Spring.  Winter.  Fall.  You die.  Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.  Set God-sized goals.  Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention!  Let’s get started!

And finally: Wherever you are and whatever you do, never forget you have a precious blessing. You’ve got the breath of life. Real life from God.  No matter how lousy things may seem, you’ve got the breath of life. And while God doesn’t promise tomorrow, He does promise eternity.  Don’t worry.  He’s coming back.  So let’s get started today!   Amen.