Last week I had the privilege of participating in one of my favorite events of the year. I spent the week on mission with an awesome group of 7th and 8th grade students. This yearly event is traditionally a local mission trip. This one was the best ever for a number of reasons.
We served at a couple of local ministries, spent some time visiting some of our own senior adult church members, and serving at a church around the corner from our own, helping with their VBS. From beginning to end, I watched 12-14 year old kids act like mature believers and serve with their whole heart. It was, in part, a testimony to the ministries of our church...our kids are indeed well trained from a young age to serve the Lord and their community. It was also a testimony to their parents who have undoubtedly brought them up to love and serve the Lord.
I watched young men and women talk with and pray with homeless men and women, help them "shop" for clothes, search Scripture with them. I watched them kneel at the side of mentally challenged adults and help them with a craft or a puzzle or a song. I listened to them pray over an elderly, widowed church member. And I saw them lead children and preschoolers in crafts, music, and games at VBS. It was a whirlwind and it was a blessing.
Generally, when I plan this yearly trip, I make an effort to build in "down time". In the past, we have had our evenings completely free, and we have had long lunch breaks. This year, because of the variety of activities scheduled, our "down time" was essentially non-existent. Yet I never heard a word of complaint. Our kids never slacked off. They gave 100% early in the morning as they ministered at an inner-city mission, and they gave 100% as they sang VBS songs with young children in the evening. I was struck that most adults, myself included, can't say the same for ourselves. How many times do I complain of being tired, hot, worn out? How many times do I give less than my best to the Lord?
I came away with the revelation that we often set the bar way too low for our kids. We expect them to need "down time". We don't expect them to excel spiritually. We classify ministry as "adult" ministry vs. "kid" ministry. I saw last week that our youngest youth are capable of so much more...so much more than many adults. I left the week challenging their parents to raise their expectations for their kids...and to join their kids in ministry. I challenge you to do the same.
"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel..." Philippians 1:27
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
In All Our Ways
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB)
These verses are, no doubt, as familiar to you as they are to me. I memorized them as a child, claimed them as a teenager, taught them to my children. I sometimes even refer to them as "default verses"...those verses someone will quickly quote when asked their favorite verse. They are easy to remember, and easy to relate to. Follow God, believe him, and he will take care of you.
This week, as he is so faithful and loving to do, God taught me something brand new in these verses. He showed me that these verses, like everything else in his Word, are even more personal than I had imagined.
My firstborn will begin her junior year in high school in a few weeks. It is a weird time. How can I be old enough to have a child that old? What happened to my baby girl? I wonder if I feel it even more acutely because I homeschool. I have had her with me for everything her whole life. Can our schooling journey really be coming to an end? And she is feeling some of those same things. More and more, people are asking her those questions that everyone asks kids as high school draws to an end. "Where are you going to college?" "What are you going to major in?" "What are you going to do?"
These questions are really beginning to frustrate her. The other day she said, "Mom, I'm 15! How in the world am I supposed to know what I want to do?" She was right. But that's where these verses come in. God reminded me that he is intimately interested in ALL her ways. He is interested in ALL our ways. And his only desire is for her (and me, and you) to trust him, to depend on him, to seek him and follow him. He will direct the rest. It is a day by day trusting. There is nothing wrong with making plans and nothing wrong with preparing for the future. In fact, we should be prepared. But we should be prepared spiritually, and we should be prepared for WHATEVER he calls us to, not just for what we think we might do. And as we follow him day by day, step by step, he will reveal those plans as he is ready, as we need to know.
These verses are, no doubt, as familiar to you as they are to me. I memorized them as a child, claimed them as a teenager, taught them to my children. I sometimes even refer to them as "default verses"...those verses someone will quickly quote when asked their favorite verse. They are easy to remember, and easy to relate to. Follow God, believe him, and he will take care of you.
This week, as he is so faithful and loving to do, God taught me something brand new in these verses. He showed me that these verses, like everything else in his Word, are even more personal than I had imagined.
My firstborn will begin her junior year in high school in a few weeks. It is a weird time. How can I be old enough to have a child that old? What happened to my baby girl? I wonder if I feel it even more acutely because I homeschool. I have had her with me for everything her whole life. Can our schooling journey really be coming to an end? And she is feeling some of those same things. More and more, people are asking her those questions that everyone asks kids as high school draws to an end. "Where are you going to college?" "What are you going to major in?" "What are you going to do?"
These questions are really beginning to frustrate her. The other day she said, "Mom, I'm 15! How in the world am I supposed to know what I want to do?" She was right. But that's where these verses come in. God reminded me that he is intimately interested in ALL her ways. He is interested in ALL our ways. And his only desire is for her (and me, and you) to trust him, to depend on him, to seek him and follow him. He will direct the rest. It is a day by day trusting. There is nothing wrong with making plans and nothing wrong with preparing for the future. In fact, we should be prepared. But we should be prepared spiritually, and we should be prepared for WHATEVER he calls us to, not just for what we think we might do. And as we follow him day by day, step by step, he will reveal those plans as he is ready, as we need to know.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Ballet Lessons
The last two weeks at our house have pretty much revolved around my youngest's ballet schedule. She is involved in Summer Intensive Workshop, an all day, every day, serious ballet schedule. It's our first experience with this and we had a pretty big learning curve, with a few bumps along the way. Yesterday was bumpy.
Upon registration, we received a link to a 15 page document with instructions, information, dress codes, packing lists...you get the picture. Rather than print it and have to keep up with 15 pages of paper, I did what any tech-savvy mom would do. I saved it to my computer, and I saved it to my iPad. With the iPad, the document was easy to carry with me anywhere. Being the somewhat compulsive person that I am, I read those pages front to back several times, checking and rechecking to be sure I was completely familiar with what we needed to do. My dancer also read over the instructions and checklists, using it as her shopping and packing guide. We had this thing under control.
But something just never added up. I read somewhere, and I heard somewhere, about a "dress code" for the final night of the workshop-a Gala in which all the dancers will perform. I re-checked my 15 page document, but didn't see any such dress code. "Well," I thought, "I guess they will give her that information later." I emailed the school office a few weeks ago to ask if there was a particular style leotard needed for classes, and was told, "No, the only dress code we have is for the Gala." Hmm...again, something didn't seem right, but I didn't know what it was.
Yesterday, I figured it out. I got a call early in the morning. "Mom! I have to have a long sleeve black leotard for tomorrow night!" What?? How did this happen?? I immediately went to my info. Nothing there about a long sleeve leotard! I started calling other moms. Most of them were aware of the long sleeve leotard clause. Was this a conspiracy? Was I loosing my mind? I called my favorite dance supply store. My favorite clerk told me that we should have known about this months ago. Seriously? How did this happen?
In desperation, I even took my iPad to the store with me so the clerk (who should know these things) could look at my copy of the list. She confirmed it. No dress code listed. She even showed me where it should have been. But the page was blank. Weird. So, I bought the necessary leotard and, despite some confusion and anxiety, we were good to go. But I wasn't satisfied. I needed to know how this happened.
A comment from another mom, and a suggestion from my daughter started some bells ringing in my head. I went to my desktop computer, not my iPad, and I pulled up the infamous document. As I began scrolling through it, something amazing appeared. Throughout the document were previously invisible blue boxes with text in them. One of those boxes contained the all-important dress code information. It was RIGHT THERE! There were also other text boxes with less-important, but still pertinent information. Suddenly lots of previously confusing issues made sense! Apparently, my iPad (as wonderful as it is) does not read some documents completely. Nice thing to know...
As I reflected on all of this today, I suddenly realized that there is a spiritual lesson in this crazy story. So much of life is like that document. We think we have things under control, but something is always missing. Some things just don't make sense, UNTIL we learn that we have to view things through the filter of the Holy Spirit. When we do that, suddenly things that never made sense before become perfectly clear! Those missing parts are suddenly visible when we look at things through Christ's eyes. When we ask him to open the eyes of our hearts, confusion becomes understanding.
So, I learned two important lessons this week. Always double check anything on my iPad against a more reliable document reader. And always ask the Holy Spirit to open my spiritual eyes to the world around me!
Upon registration, we received a link to a 15 page document with instructions, information, dress codes, packing lists...you get the picture. Rather than print it and have to keep up with 15 pages of paper, I did what any tech-savvy mom would do. I saved it to my computer, and I saved it to my iPad. With the iPad, the document was easy to carry with me anywhere. Being the somewhat compulsive person that I am, I read those pages front to back several times, checking and rechecking to be sure I was completely familiar with what we needed to do. My dancer also read over the instructions and checklists, using it as her shopping and packing guide. We had this thing under control.
But something just never added up. I read somewhere, and I heard somewhere, about a "dress code" for the final night of the workshop-a Gala in which all the dancers will perform. I re-checked my 15 page document, but didn't see any such dress code. "Well," I thought, "I guess they will give her that information later." I emailed the school office a few weeks ago to ask if there was a particular style leotard needed for classes, and was told, "No, the only dress code we have is for the Gala." Hmm...again, something didn't seem right, but I didn't know what it was.
Yesterday, I figured it out. I got a call early in the morning. "Mom! I have to have a long sleeve black leotard for tomorrow night!" What?? How did this happen?? I immediately went to my info. Nothing there about a long sleeve leotard! I started calling other moms. Most of them were aware of the long sleeve leotard clause. Was this a conspiracy? Was I loosing my mind? I called my favorite dance supply store. My favorite clerk told me that we should have known about this months ago. Seriously? How did this happen?
In desperation, I even took my iPad to the store with me so the clerk (who should know these things) could look at my copy of the list. She confirmed it. No dress code listed. She even showed me where it should have been. But the page was blank. Weird. So, I bought the necessary leotard and, despite some confusion and anxiety, we were good to go. But I wasn't satisfied. I needed to know how this happened.
A comment from another mom, and a suggestion from my daughter started some bells ringing in my head. I went to my desktop computer, not my iPad, and I pulled up the infamous document. As I began scrolling through it, something amazing appeared. Throughout the document were previously invisible blue boxes with text in them. One of those boxes contained the all-important dress code information. It was RIGHT THERE! There were also other text boxes with less-important, but still pertinent information. Suddenly lots of previously confusing issues made sense! Apparently, my iPad (as wonderful as it is) does not read some documents completely. Nice thing to know...
As I reflected on all of this today, I suddenly realized that there is a spiritual lesson in this crazy story. So much of life is like that document. We think we have things under control, but something is always missing. Some things just don't make sense, UNTIL we learn that we have to view things through the filter of the Holy Spirit. When we do that, suddenly things that never made sense before become perfectly clear! Those missing parts are suddenly visible when we look at things through Christ's eyes. When we ask him to open the eyes of our hearts, confusion becomes understanding.
So, I learned two important lessons this week. Always double check anything on my iPad against a more reliable document reader. And always ask the Holy Spirit to open my spiritual eyes to the world around me!
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