This weekend we attended our district's TEAM day, a day full of workshops, discussion groups and discussion panels that focused on evangelism and discipleship. This year I went with the intention of attending 2 sessions about children's ministries and the lunch discussion group for pastor's spouses. I was excited to soak up as much knowledge as I possibly could.
I decided to keep Bug with me since we're still nursing and figured it would be easier. So we checked Bean into childcare and found a seat for the opening session. 20 minutes into the session Bug needed to eat, so I went and fed her and then rejoined the session. This happened during the first workshop and then again during the second. By the third time I had to leave a session I was feeling a little defeated. How was I supposed to learn anything if I kept having to leave? As I glanced down at Bug it hit me, THIS is my ministry.
For this season in my life my children are my ministry. This doesn't mean that I cannot be a part of any other ministry but that the majority of my focus and energy need to be put into my children. This point was driven home by something I did get to hear in my afternoon session. One of the speakers had 2 jars that sit in their children's department. 1 jar was small and had a few marbles in it, the other was huge and had about 10x the marbles in it. The small jar represents how much time children spend at church in children's ministries and the big jar represents how much time children spend with their parents. It serves as a reminder to both the children's workers and the parents of children who come to church that while what happens at church is important, children still spend a majority of their time with their parents. So what happens at home is important.
The illustration was given during this session to remind children's workers that they remember that they not only need to minister to children but we also need to mister to their parents, but it really spoke to me as a parent. It reminds me that my children spend the majority of their time with me.
As I sat there nursing Bug, realizing that my girls are my ministry and that they spend most of their time with me, I began to think about how we spend our days. They are learning from every single thing I do, positive or negative, loving or unkind, even when I think they aren't paying attention to what I'm doing. Everything I do matters.
At first that thought is scary, its a lot of pressure to think that everything I do is teaching my children something, the good and the bad. But then I remembered that God never calls us to anything without promising to also go with us. I know that God has called me to be home with our girls, He has affirmed this so many times in so many ways. So I know that He will be with me all day every day. Every time I get frustrated with Bean for peeing in her pants all morning, or Bug won't take a nap. God is there reminding me to speak to my children with love. When the girls learn a new skill, smile at me or say I love you, He is right there celebrating with me.
So to all those parents out there feeling frustrated because you don't have time or energy to be a part of a ministry in your church , know that you have a ministry right in front of you. How are you impacting the kingdom of God in your home?
