All that to say that even with the disappointing weather, this is my favorite time of the year. I find myself encountering a fresh new budget wiped clean, a desk piled high with colorful curricula and the overwhelming sense that I am in way over my head yet again. So many dreams have been built up and sinful doubts start to creep in, saying, not enough people, not enough funds, not enough time, not enough experience, just, well, not enough.
So after waking up with another migraine and feeling sorry for myself, I took a step back from all of that today and reflected on the past year of Children's Ministry here at Christ Church. The cure for self-pity is always remembering God's heaping helpings of grace. You'd think I'd know that by now, but I need constant reminders.
Like vines in the vineyard…
--Watching a Kindergartner over the last 12 months learn how to pray. When he first started, it was all mumbles, and drifted off to awkward silence after mere moments of folding our hands. Now, I can barely contain him each Sunday as he raises his hand to lead us in prayer before each snack, with beautiful prayers full of the relationship he is building with His father in Heaven. Last Sunday I told him that I loved hearing him pray, and that many adults in this world are afraid of praying aloud the way he so eagerly does each week. “Why are they afraid?” He asked, utterly confused. I pray he will never know this fear and will continue to witness through years and years of simple and thoughtful conversations in the throne room.
--Listening to the sweet songs of our children each week during Sunday School. I hate to miss it for even a moment. The spasms of boyhood briefly stop just long enough to sing “A mighty fortress is our God” with a little shyness yet a deepening understanding. Oh, and please, just take the time soon to dance and sing side by side with a 5 year old during corporate worship…I guarantee you will have a better grasp of the joyful canvas of true worship.
--Month after month of memorizing the Apostles Creed together, of learning how to draw a map of Israel, of imprinting catechism and the books of the Bible so that Scripture would become more real to them. Sure, they might moan and groan at another pop quiz, but when life hits them head on, I love to know that the tools they’ll need will be written on their hearts and easily found on the pages at their fingertips.
--Changing diapers and knowing that one simple smile and sweetest giggle from the smallest of infants can change your entire perspective of the day at hand. Count all those fingers and toes again. Smell their hair, and hold them close to your heart. Multiply that with all the babies we are having here at Christ Church, and our joy is overwhelming. God is so good. And that job is so important.
--Living in the moment with each child each week. They are overflowing with stories of God’s grace if you take the time to ask them about it. During Children’s worship we learn how the air we breathe, the frogs we catch, the trees we climb, the friends we make and the painful moments in our lives are all a part of the walk we share together. Last week the children took big gulps of air and marveled at how powerful air is in their life, which led us to discussing how our God is also invisible, but made visible in Creation with more power and majesty than we could ever imagine. And they got it. Romans 1:20 was a no-brainer to them. Wow.
--Watching our crew of teachers love each child with divine purpose, and continue to not only show up, but give their hearts and time with a sweetness and light for which I daily rejoice. What a blessing they are to so many on this kingdom mission.
--Being asked by 2nd graders how best to evangelize their classmates and invite them to church on a Sunday morning. If that doesn't humble my heart, nothing will.
Sigh. There’s so much more. So many names and faces. In writing out a list of God’s grace from this past year in the Children’s ministry this morning, I discovered 12 typed pages. And I know that I missed 99 percent of how God worked in our lives, but still, I’m praising God for this wealth of riches.
We need your prayers, Christ Church. Things are happening. They aren’t loud and flashy, and most people might glance in and find plenty lacking, but I am certain that we have witnessed the singing of angels and the footsteps of the King of Kings dance among us and gather the hearts of His children within the walls of this church and into the four corners of Jacksonville.
Oh, I know. We’re not done, there’s a lot to do, and there's a lot I still don't know. And I can get plenty anxious by the thought that there’s just not enough.
And you know what? I’m right, I’m definitely not enough. But He is. And I need to remember that this is enough for His ministry. His calling. His children.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
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