Category: The Ministry

Decorating for Events – Not A Waste of Time

I’m sitting here tonight so wired but exhausted… our Mother Daughter Banquet is over, whew! I am relieved and so are my aching feet! We have a busy church routine throughout the year, but it’s weeks like the last 2 weeks that make me very happy that I have the opportunity to stay home with our children instead of working. Frankly, I just could not hack a 10-12 hour work week for an extended amount of time…. Any-who, here are my thoughts for tonight…

I have worked in our current church for 3 1/2 years using my “gift” in this body of Christ (every member has a job and a function or “gift” that they have been given to serve in their local church), which is decorating, writing and acting in skits, and a few other odds and ends. I have worked getting ready for many events and spent hours and days by myself and with the help of others, at times, creating elaborate decorations that just end up crumpled up an hour after the event is over and thrown into a box or the garbage can. That is depressing, because I have felt my time was chucked into the storage closet and my investment lost… or was it? Sometimes it was… other times it has not been.

I have thought recently that maybe that time really has not been completely used in vain. Decorations set the tone for the event, whether it is a Mother Daughter Banquet, a month-long Sunday School Campaign, Vacation Bible School, etc. When you set the tone of the event then people’s attention is initially captured so then when the speaker speaks they are more inclined to listen. And when the speaker speaks from the Word of God then the heart can be touched all because of the atmosphere you have created.

I am learning that you can decorate with less and still create an excellent atmosphere. You do not have to have elaborate and extravagant decorations every time that you host an event. Sometimes the simplest things can make the mind think about God… there is a difference between just piddly lame-o decorating and being thoughtfully simple. Laziness in creating an atmosphere can really distract instead of attract. It would be better to not decorate if you’re not able to put some thoughtfulness into it.

One time when I was helping decorate with two ladies in our Fellowship Hall. The tablecloths were not fitting properly on a cake table and one lady was saying “It’s fine,” and the other lady was saying, “It’s not fine, we need to do something else.” The scramble in trying to find another tablecloth in the storage room that fit the table was going on when I felt trapped between a woman content and a woman discontent. The lesson that was taught to me by the lady that was telling me that the tablecloth was not fine was this: She leaned over and told me, (when the other woman was not in the room) “What we are doing is not for people. We have to remember that what we are doing is for the Lord. We cannot be satisfied with something that does not look nice.” She was right, the tablecloth in its rumpled look and fit were not going to project the nature of the event, which was our church anniversary. The Lord established our church and has kept it going for over 30 years now, we should honor Him with our best, even if it means finding a nicer tablecloth. If God had a beautiful temple in the Old Testament times, we can create beauty in His church.

The message I hope to convey is that you give God your best in even your decorating. It is time used, not wasted. Never should we compare ourselves with the largest of churches that can afford the finest decorations, if you are a smaller church buying your supplies at a dollar store. God knows our budget, He knows our time frame, He knows our hearts and whether we are creating an atmosphere where He can walk and speak to hearts when we have special preaching, teaching, and devotional times.

People know too if you have created an atmosphere that is God-honoring. There is a difference between fake fabrication of “feeling” and a place where they can walk in and feel safe to speak to someone about their troubles because they feel at ease. Be thoughtful in your work and it will not go unnoticed by God or others.

When does our time become a waste?

We live in such a great age with being able to research and find good ideas everywhere, there really is no excuse for lame-o decorating, but do not get carried away. The gal I was working with on decorations came to a place today where we had a conversation and came to the conclusion that we would not do at least one of the big decoration ideas that we had hoped to do. We needed to stop because our kids had been at the church for two days playing and getting worn out, we were worn out, and it was not going to hurt us to leave the decoration out. It would have been a waste of time to push ourselves to extra exhaustion and tried to finish the project. And, who would have guessed that the ladies that did not know about the decoration, did not miss it!

We can make huge lists of “must-have’s” in our decorating, but sometimes we have to let go a little because maybe our eyes got bigger than our hands could perform. Sometimes you have to stop and look around and resolve that perhaps letting your kids get an afternoon nap would be better than adding or finishing that “one more thing.”

So while we want to do our best for the Lord and decorate for our special events, we also have to have balance. Your kids may not want to eat animal crackers and Cheerios, the snacks from the nursery, for several days in a row just because you do not want to stop decorating with the other ladies and give them a meal. C’mon, we have to be asking God for help in keeping balanced so we really do not waste our family’s time either.

My few thoughts about a topic have the tendency to turn into a novel, but I hope when you find yourself exhausted at the end of the day after seeing all your work thrown to the side after decorating for a big event, that you will not be discouraged. I hope you are encouraged by the testimonies of people who learned something new from the Bible, or by the smiles on the ladies’ faces as they have been laughing and speaking to each other, or just that God was honored and placed above all other things for a few hours.

We serve a great God, who is worthy to be praised! Keep a balance and keep the faith!

 

I Miss You Heaps & Think of You Often

A collection, a file of sorts sits in a box probably in storage. Neat rows of opened envelopes each with pages filled with thoughts and questions of my past written to my best friend.The letters and cards she had written to me are long gone in an apartment fire that happened early in my marriage. But to her, I sit in a shoe box or plastic container, she was a bit of an organized perfectionist, a little more OCD than she probably would ever admit. I sit there in storage waiting for her to find me when she moves again or cleans out a closet. I am only a memory now of the past we shared together through Junior High and High School.

We began molting our childish feathers and finding new wings. The wings of God’s calling flew me to Bible College. Her wings flew her to a town a couple of hours away from our hometown, where she pursued a degree at a popular college. Once we said good-bye to go to college our paths have only crossed a few times. She came to my college once on a weekend right after I had started school. Then, a few months after I was married my husband and I stopped by her parents’ house at Christmas knowing she would be there. We hung out and laughed hilariously together watching America’s Funniest Home Videos. The last time I spent time with her, I attended her college graduation with my oldest son but that was a bit awkward.

I still keep in touch with her mother but my attempts of writing letters like we did in high school have failed. This Christmas I gathered some courage, after not hearing from her in years, and sent a Christmas card with a photo of only myself inside. No response… To me it’s like the awful feeling of being dumped when you don’t know what you did wrong…

…I don’t think it is what I did wrong though, it was what I chose to do right. I followed God’s call and obeyed Him and what He wanted for me. When I went into her home when I went to her college graduation there were alcohol bottles everywhere used as decorations. She was also obviously uncomfortable that I was there seeing that. The red lights began to blink like when the guard comes down at a railroad crossing and it was obvious that our relationship would probably never be what it was in the past.

Thinking back, I am not even sure what our first words were to each other when we met in Sunday School in Junior High. We exchanged e-mail addresses and began writing lengthy e-mails about life as we knew it. I called her a “home school freak” because I was a public schooler. Home schooling and Christian school were foreign to me. Our church had a Christian school and I was one of a minority of public schoolers in the youth group, that is probably why we naturally gravitated to one another… we were outsiders to the clique.

By the time she had a car we went out almost every other weekend eating at our favorite restaurants and going to Barnes and Noble or the movies. We would go out toilet papering other people’s homes, we were roomies on our youth group trip to Mexico. She even fainted on me one time when were on a rafting trip with our youth group because she hadn’t eaten any of the food the whole time because she was pretty selective in her food choices, in other words picky. We were her older sister’s bridesmaids and we shared our graduation party together at her parents’ house. We were close and could always speak in written form on the deepest subjects but face to face we had obstacles revealing who we really were and wished to become. I hid a lot of my bad choices I was making with my other friends at school away from her. I believe she hid the things she wanted to do but couldn’t.

I made some poor choices back then, sin’s temptations lured me in and I failed many times. But it was God that was still moving in my heart back then and getting me ready to be molded and changed for today. I have close friends now, God brought His replacements in when I had a need for good friends. (I love you guys!)

No one writes to me like she wrote me… and I still mourn the lost friendship. It’s been over 10 years now.

Her mom told me one day that she thought she would come back to our friendship some day because she still keeps my letters. That one day when she is married she will understand more about me and my life.

My whirlwind marriage kind of freaked her out…she was never one that embraced change willingly. One day I had to come to grips that she may never come back. I may always be a box full of letters and photos to her from now on. But I still wait, hoping with an open door to my heart that one day I will no longer be rejected for who God wanted and has changed me to be. Yes my life is different, yes God is the center of my life, but I still laugh and cry. I still need friends and love fun. I have a husband and kids but still am a Joe-normal person on the inside. Sometimes I think people forget that God’s servants may leave many things that were once dear to their hearts behind to come and serve them. The facts are that when you separate yourself unto Christ and decide to follow Him, sometimes is separates you from those dearest to you.

She gave me a card once that had a girl in a life jacket on the front and it said “If we were on a ship and there was only one life jacket…” you opened the card and it read, “I’d miss you heaps and think of you often.” It was very funny because that was just the kind of humor in our relationship. It kind of rings true in my heart though, I miss her heaps and think of her often, but I’ve left the door open so that if she wants to come back she can.

We see families in our churches leave for whatever reason and it can be painful to watch as they make a decision to go to another church or choose to serve God a little less. It hurts because a ministry mama’s life is spent investing in the lives of parents and their children when you serve them in church activities, Sunday School, and the nursery. We can be tempted to carry bitterness toward them for walking away and sometimes leaving us hanging when they leave their ministry positions behind without a second thought or explanation. I am going to urge you and myself to leave the door open!!

Give yourself peace, so that when you run into them at the grocery store or the park, that you can still greet them with a smile and genuinely care about how they are doing. Then, if it ever happens that they come back to your church, you can welcome them without a grudge or root of bitterness inside. Some people may never come back and you may always feel that sadness, just miss them heaps and pray for them often!

Loss seems to be something that goes with ministry but I never want to get a hard heart and expect that people are always going to disappoint or leave. Our pastor gave a good point in a recent message, “Only expect out of people, what God expects out of people.” You have probably heard the saying that people are in our lives for a reason, season, or a lifetime. The relationships we have with members of our churches do evolve, we may be burdened to pray for and help a certain person one month and then God will bring a new person to help and pray for into your life the next. We are growing, changing, struggling, and should always be changing to become like Christ, and other people are doing the same things in their lives. Give people a little slack…

Did you ever think, Christ did not only leave the door open for us, He came knocking on our heart’s door!

Following Christ’s call is not always easy. It may cost much. And we may have holes of sadness, like how I miss my friend, but God’s friendship is greater than any earthly friendship or relationship. While I hope for my friend to return, I look forward to Christ’s return because even though I have never met Him there are times I miss Him heaps and deeply long to be with Him face-to-face. So, if you take anything away from this I encourage you to let go of bitterness toward those that may walk away and Leave the Door Open!

Dear friend, if you are out there reading this. The door’s open and like Motel 6, I’ve left the light on for ya. And yes, I really do miss you heaps and think of you often!

So Your Little Plan Didn’t Work

The anger boils within your veins, you clench your jaw tight, and turn around quickly to leave the room. “Argh! If only that person would just let go of their stubborn ways and just accept the plan I have created to take care of everything. But no, it always has to be difficult, doesn’t it!? People…I just can’t stand their rejection of this great idea. I might actually shake that guy by the shoulders and scream ‘Accept this or you’ll regret it buddy!’ but that wouldn’t really work would it? Surely there must be another way…” Your mind begins to reel as newer solutions flash into your mind, your new plan begins to formulate and before you know you’ve made it your quest to conquer this stubborn rejection of your little plan.

Ever had a solution to a problem and be rejected? It’s funny how we can go into destructive mode toward that obstacle that just will not move out of our way. But what if that obstacle is there to teach us that we are the problem and our little plan is just a cover up to something bigger that is lurking in the darkness behind us?

King David’s plan didn’t work. He did his dead level best to lure Uriah the Hittite back into his home to be with his wife. He provided a feast and he gave him prime vacation time from the heat of the battle. But no, the stubborn man chose to sleep with the servants outside the king’s house. David tempted Uriah to stay another night and provided the wine to make him drunk, hoping that his drunkenness would lead him home to be with his wife. Yet again he slept outside with the servants in front of King David’s house. His integrity determined him to stay loyal to the soldiers on the field unable to be with their family members and see their own wives. Uriah was known as one of David’s 30 mighty men and King David abused his position to right his own personal wrong. King David’s last resort was scribbled on paper and sealed with his seal, placed in the hands of the man he was betraying. Uriah delivered his death sentence to the leader of the army and was stationed to the front of the battle, dying on the battlefield by innocent hands of the enemy because the true killer that schemed against him was inside the walls of Jerusalem with a crown upon his brow.

Lust, immorality, and pregnancy with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, caused King David to sink to the depths of homicide. His plans were rejected perhaps so that he could repent and make the wrong right before his loyal soldier but he could not see past his little plan. The account seems to highlight the obstacles King David faced, revealing his character and desperation for a cover up. Certainly the obstacles revealed Uriah’s character also. David breathed a sigh of relief that his problem could be resolved in wrong manner and after a time of mourning sent for Bathsheba to then become his wife.

The relief ended when Nathan the prophet confronted David about his actions. Thankfully he saw himself as a murderer, a robber of life and family, and was able to acknowledge not only had he destroyed a life, he disregarded God’s laws and expectations of him as a king of God’s chosen nation, Israel. He had taken lightly God’s position upon lust and marriage by giving into temptation, the temptation brought forth sin, that multiplied itself to a rotten plan to kill what stood in his way.

Let us be careful not always be mad at what does not seem to be working but to be able to step back sometimes and say “Am I trying to accomplish this for my own purposes?” “Is there something I’m trying to cover up?” We can even, imagine this, pray and ask God to reveal the thoughts and intents of our hearts. If we have a determination to plow over those that stand in our way of obtaining what we want so that we can get it immediately – Red flag!

Some of us need a good dose of good preaching, just like Nathan the prophet gave David, to slap us upside the head and knock a little Holy Ghost conviction into our hearts so that we can repent and do right! So if your little plan doesn’t work… in the end, what will it reveal about your character? It’s better to always do right than to have to make things right later.

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