Replanted and Blooming

I spent most of today at a conference for those in ‘Christian Education’ ~ primarily children’s workers.  And it was generally predictable.  When you’ve been in the CE circle for some time, you learn to expect the nicely packaged fill-in-the-blank seminar books and the free give aways.  I was encouraged though, by one of the points of a point ~ that as teachers, we should be creating an environment for the kids to experience God, rather than just teaching a class about Him.  The questions we should ask our kids after a class should be:  “What did you learn today?” & “What did God say to you?”  I am great with the first question.  I ask my step daughter this every time I see her, but the 2nd question is not something I generally ask kids.  And why not? I guess it’s because I don’t really expect them to be hearing from God.  Wow, that’s something.  During our lunch break I tried to emphasize these points with the rest of our teaching team, but I didn’t really get any responses.  Our children’s ministry is kind of a mess ~ we don’t have any written goals or even a specific curriculum that we’re working from.  (another point I tried to emphasize today)  What are my goals as a children’s teacher?  I want them to know that they can know Jesus now, that knowing Him is essential for being who they are supposed to be.  I want them to have their own faith, and to be able to pray believing in a God who is real.

How does this happen?  I know that it is essential for the teacher to have a real, honest life with God, but there is more, and I don’t think it’s anything you can learn at a seminar.

What do you think?  What is the best way to encourage children to know God in a personal and real way?  How do you realistically teach them in a way that impacts their lives?

 Thanks for your ideas!

Potty training has been a big topic in our home for the past year or so, but this week, we took the plunge.  Other Mommies and Daddies know what I’m talking about ~ our little boy is wearing underwear.  Superhero underwear, basketball underwear, King Kong underwear, and not to mention all of the other characters who have already headed into the trash by way of an ‘accident’.  And, from what I’ve heard, it is impossible to move through the potty training process without experiencing the ocassional ‘accident’ (4 already today though.. I guess they are not so occassional).

So, as I’m wiping up messes and watching the laundry pile up, and it feels like potty training has absolutely taken over my life, what can I learn?

1.  Poop Happens ~ I know Forest Gump already taught us this, but there is nothing like potty training to remind you.  Once it’s there (whether in the pants, on the floor, or even on you) it’s there, and you have to face it head on. 

2.  Attitude is Everything ~  My child may need 2 more baths before the day is over, but will they be happy baths?  How will we face this battle called ‘potty training’?  Will my son grow to remember Mom raging like a lunatic over dirty pants, or will be remember me being patient and loving?

3.  Nothing Lasts Forever ~ How long can this last, really?  2 more weeks, tops?  At some point, (preferably while he is 3), potty training will be over. 

Seriously, potty training may well be the greatest battle that my 3 year old little boy has faced yet.  It is amazing, how something that seems so natural and so easy to an adult can be so far beyond the capabilities of a child.  It’s easy to get frustrated and angry in this process, and tempting at times to reveal the raging ‘Mommy Monster’ within.  But I have been reminded that as His children, God meets us where we are.  When I am running around making ‘accidents’ in my life, instead of yelling at me or shaming me, God patiently and lovingly comes alongside of me, helps me get cleaned up, and invites me to more. 

God made us, men and women, in His image.  And I was created female.  I grew up in a tradition that maintained a certain ‘place’ for women.  By the age of 10, I knew that I wanted to serve God with my life. But, how does a woman serve God?  She is either a wife (who might teach Sunday School on the side), or a Missionary.  And so, I just knew that God was calling me to be a missionary.  While in college, I spent some time ‘in the mission field’ ‘overseas’.  And God told me loud and clear that I was not created to be a missionary.  The next year, God revealed in me the gift of preaching.  Do you realize that there are other women in the world who will tell you that you are ’sinning against God’ by preaching from the Bible in front of a group of people on a Sunday morning - if you are created female? 

Years later, I still disregard those other women and still allow God to work in and through me by preaching.  And it is only after the preaching is accomplished and I’m still rushing home and trying to figure out what to feed my family, when I wonder if they may have some kind of a point.  There is something about preaching and then making dinner that just seems overwhelmingly unbearable.

 I am happily a wife and mother.  And I eagerly traded in some brain cells for what I thought would be years of feeding, burping, diapers, sticky kisses, tearful tantrums, ABC’s, and potty training.  But now our oldest (only) is 3, and God has not given us anymore babies.  And, created female, I have no idea what to do with myself.  Do I put our son in school and began some kind of career that I never anticipated?  Do I attempt homeschooling with an only child who loves to be around people?  Where are the other babies that we are supposed to have?  And how in the world, as I chew on these questions day after day, am I going to get my son potty trained?

 At this time in my life, I envy those who were created male.  They seem to have the freedom to use any of their spiritual or natural gifts.  They seem to have a consistent role of provider.

And I feel consistently lost as I try to grasp what exactly God created me to be on this particular day in my life.

This looks like an interesting place.  I feel a little lost - like the first day in a new city.