a mama's gotta do

So I've been struggling a bit.  I'm not sure where it's all coming from but I have really been rolling some thoughts around in my head and I wanted to share them with you. Men, I hesitated sharing this because I wondered what can a guy gain from motherly topics/womanly issues? Don't worry I'm not going to talk about menstrual cycles, etc.  At least I don't feel led to talk about those at the moment and if I'm already beginning to lose you can I just say, "wait"!  I think it's important for men to read up on some of the issues women face because hey, you want to be excellent husbands and fathers, Lord willing that is in your future and so I offer my humble experiences to both genders hoping that I can learn some from processing my thoughts on this blog and you can learn some from my mistakes and experiences.

My experience on staff with our christian ministry has been an up and down hilly ride of exciting seasons followed by droughts, storms that would toss even the bravest sailor and rainbows and skipping through fields.  I think I've had a somewhat well-rounded experience with our ministry.  I've had faithful teachable amazing women and I've had gals who haven't stuck around long enough to give me a chance.  All of it is fine. All of it has made me who I am. Since getting married though I've noticed that the bar for me to minister outside the home has been set extremely low.  On one hand, this is awesome because I'm not being pushed to do too much and be too busy. But on the other hand I'm not being challenged or contributing...

Since becoming a mother though I've started to wonder if I should be involved with ministry and if so, how much?

And I just want to say I think the answer for all of us (whether we're involved full-time ministry or not) is yes.  The potential example I hope to set with my daughters is that by seeing people come into our home they will see that we can love and care for others.  They will see faith being worked out as Timothy says, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Timothy 2:2)

Who are my Timothys? My sweet Love Bugs.  It's my hope that they will see me ministering to people of all life stages, shapes and sizes.

The warning that is going off in my head, however, is not to become so busy that I forget that my main ministry is the home and those who are in it.  Hubs and the Love Bugs.  They have been entrusted to me, in my safekeeping, to lovingly be the iron that sharpens them into the man and women God intended them to be.

So how can we, mothers and wives, minister while not neglecting our safekeepings?

I consider this my "humble list" because I am in no way acting on all of these things but they are ideas that I want to try to include home and ministry.  The humble list includes:

*having people over for dinner often.  I wanna be better about having an open door (and kitchen) for single college kids, dating friends, married friends, co-workers, and new acquaintances.  I think there is just something about sharing a meal that really brings people together.

*having bible studies in your home. (easy enough)

*discipling gals while doing chores around the house.  I remember my good friend Beth telling me that when she was a mom she did not have time to disciple anyone but women kept asking her to disciple them (you'd understand, Beth is a gold mine of wisdom).  So she'd have them over to help her with dinners, chores and childcare while passing on her pearls of wisdom.  I really want to cultivate this in my life but right now I feel a bit frazzled when I try to focus on passing on pearls and peeling potatoes. Whew!

While some of you may jump on this right away, I know there are some that feel overwhelmed that I would even suggest you add one more thing to your ever growing list.  So let me say this, minister where you are at in life.  I couldn't even begin to think about discipling a gal for the first 6 months of the Love Bugs' life.  And then God dropped a wonderful gal into my world that ministers to me more than I do her and she came to me first as someone to help me take care of the Love Bugs.  Then as we shared about our life we realized we were kind of encouraging and living life together.  It was discipleship in its rawest forms.  Now we have a little more structure but it's about all I can handle at this stage of life.

So minister with where you are at in life.  But don't overlook that you may have more room to spare than you think.  Is it possible you could give up a night of tv to host a couple over for dinner? Or meet someone for lunch once a week?  I only encourage us mothers to at least try because I know how life-giving it has been for me.

Where can you minister in life at this time? Because to someone, you may be there "gold mine" or pearl-passer-on-er. Oooo I like that.

And if you are already ministering from your home, please pass on what you've learned and any ideas I can add to my humble list in the comments section!!

Oh, and this is no way reserved for only mothers and wives! Like I stated above I just think sometimes we aren't expected to do much outside the home which can be a good thing but if you are like me, can make me lazy in ministry.