Ever wish you had more time in the day? Maybe you want that extra time to catch up on missed sleep. Exercise. Work. Laundry. Cleaning. Whatever the reason may be, I think we can all agree that there are plenty of times where we have said “there is just not enough time in the day.” I say and think this ALL the time! As I look toward the future and think about having a family I can’t even think about how parents must feel. There is barely enough time in the day to finish the things I need to do.
With all the things children are involved in today it amazes me that parents keep up with it all! Whether it be a sport, music lessons, rehearsals for plays/musicals, birthday parties, or if you have multiple things to be at or multiple kids to take to different places. Where is the time for YOU to connect with your child?
By now I’m sure you know we have adopted a new curriculum here at Keith Church! This is an exciting time for our children, parents, and volunteers. The Orange Curriculum has many things to offer and our favorite is that it provides an easy way to help our parents connect with their child’s faith. Orange understands that families are busier today then ever before! Orange is all about connecting parents at home (red) with leaders at church (yellow) with the same strategy and same end goal! What happens when you mix red and yellow together?
ORANGE HAPPENS!!
My hope for Orange and our parents here at Keith is that the Orange Curriculum help set the foundation of faith with his/her child and help connect parents with their child’s faith. There are a couple of things that will be available each week to help you connect with your child throughout the week.
“God times” is a great way to have a small bible study at home with your child. There are different Bible verses and a short devotion for each day of the week. “God times” engage each child on their level whether they are elementary or preteen age.
“Parent Cue” is another way to interact with your child throughout the week. There will be a different one each week with questions, conversation starters and a memory verse. Another way to connect with your child is by downloading Parent Cue App. You can find it free on the iTunes and Android store. Once you have the app it prompts you to put in your child’s information (it allows you to put in more than one child!). With this app there are weekly videos, more ways to reinforce the Bible verse of the week, questions and activities to engage in throughout the week. It also has a reminder of how many weeks you have before they graduate high school – a good reminder to enjoy and use the time you have now with your child.
In partnering with parents at home, we believe we can be more successful in building strong relationships and each child’s faith.
There was a time in my life where I questioned my purpose – not because I did not feel wanted or needed, but because I did not understand His plan for me. I can’t tell you I had a hard life. Or that I have had to overcome difficult circumstances, because growing up, life was easy. I had two parents who loved me unconditionally – still do (although they are grandparents now and say that is the best kind of love!). I went to school. I LOVED school!!! I graduated high school and started college the next semester.
Although I changed my major many times, music was always my constant. I started out as an undecided major but the pressure from peers asking what I was studying almost forced me to pick something. Pre-med was my first decided major, I thought if I can make it through all current seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, I could surely work in the medical field. . . Then found myself in an anatomy class and quickly found out that was not my cup of tea! Next was business. I took an accounting and an economics class and reaffirmed that I was TERRIBLE at math!! I then turned to music, thinking I can study music and I’ll be fine. I’ll have an answer to tell people what I’m majoring in and I’ll finish school!
Then came all the questions about what I would do with that degree – which I seemingly didn’t have the answers to! You see, what I didn’t tell you is that all along my parents told me I would be a teacher (it was in my blood after all!). I remember taking my first education class and coming out of it thinking “Wow! This is what I was meant to do!” I had my lightbulb moment – everything seemed to make sense! So my junior year of college I changed my major to music education. Which resulted in having two senior years (I was a fifth year senior, but better late than never!).
Fast forward a little, I graduated and started working full time at the restaurant I had been employed at through college. I did not get a job right out of college. A year rolled by, a job in our small town opened up so I applied. I was optimistic, excited, a ball of emotions! Two weeks before school started I found out I didn’t get the job.
I was crushed. Devastated. Confused.
I couldn’t understand how I had put all those years (and money!) into studying for something and still couldn’t find a job! I was questioning if I was actually meant to be a teacher. I found myself in the “valley of the shadow of death”. I didn’t understand how God would lead me in a direction and not reward me for listening.
A few weeks went by and I ran into a couple of former teachers of mine at the grocery. We caught up a little on life and they both mentioned that their church was looking for someone to be over their children’s ministry. I listened to them and thought to myself “I haven’t been to church since my sophomore year of college . . . other than the times we sang at a church”. Later that evening I received emails from both of my former teachers with information about the job and who to contact. Still unsure if this was what I was supposed to do I closed the email and decided to think on it for a day.
The next day I woke up and opened my computer to watch Netflix and the email popped up again. I read it again and decided to send my resume and see what would come of it. I don’t have to tell you that I was offered and accepted the job – because here I am working at Keith UMC.
But I do have to tell you that Keith church has changed my life. When I started working with children again, my life made sense. I have since taken a job teaching music at two of our city schools and am still working with the church.
When I tell you I am blessed beyond measure, I truly mean it! When I say my cup runneth over, it indeed does! I have the BEST job in the WORLD!! I get to love on children every day! I get to greet each and every one of them with a smile every morning as they enter the school! Some are sleepy, some are WIDE AWAKE, some are crying, some are laughing, some look like they didn’t get any sleep the night before, some are wearing the same clothes as yesterday, others are in brand new outfits. No matter the circumstance they live in, I get to show them love EVERY SINGLE DAY while they are here at school.
As I’m going through rules and procedures with each class, my focus is on being kind and loving all of our friends here at school. I follow this up by saying that we are all friends with each other. I tell them they are my friends and that I love each of them. I know some people might think I’m just excited because it’s my first year in the classroom but it is so much more than that! I’m no longer in the valley. God brought me out. He knew what the path for me was even when I couldn’t see it. I look and think about how I thought my life was terrible and I had no purpose when really God was at work in my life. I know it’s cliché to say “looking back, I now understand the reason that He let those things happen” but it is so TRUE! Gosh, it gets SO hard to understand things when you are still going through them, but keep walking! Keep your head up! You’ll soon find yourself out of that valley.
Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
God’s there. Whether you feel His presence or not, he’s there with you. He’s got you!
I have a good friend who struggles with anxiety and depression. She has a real medical condition that she has been prescribed medication to help treat. It is a real struggle that affects how she lives her daily life.
A few months ago, she attended a United Methodist Church in a neighboring Conference where the pastor preached on the passage where Jesus tell us, “Do Not Worry.” The pastor essentially said, “If you worry, then you are not a Christian.” He harshly condemned people who struggle with worry and anxiety, saying that those people have a lack of faith. He said, “If you worry or struggle with anxiety, then you don’t really trust God.”
I know someone else who struggled with the loss of one of his close friends who passed away. In fact, he was right by his friend’s side when he died. He attempted to give his friend CPR but was unsuccessful. As you might imagine, he had a hard time dealing with this deep sense of loss. He also had a hard time dealing with this traumatic experience. He felt guilty.
His parents suggested that he should go and see a counselor. They made an appointment with an older minister who ended up challenged my friend about his faith. “If you were truly a Christian,” the pastor said, “Then you wouldn’t be sad that your friend died. Instead, you would be happy because he is now in heaven.”
Wow. Really?
When my friends recounted these stories about these two pastors, it made my blood boil. I’m sorry, but I have to completely disagree with these two “colleagues” of mine.
Who said you have to be okay all of the time?
No one can be happy 100% of the time. We all have good days and bad days. We all experience ups and downs. You don’t have to act like everything is okay on the outside when it feels like your whole world is falling apart on the inside. Your feelings are your feelings. Let yourself feel.
When I experienced a deep loss of someone close to me who had died, the best thing that someone said to me was, “Whatever you are feeling, it is okay to feel that way.” In other words, “It’s okay not to be okay.”
These pastors who think you have to have it together all the time are just dead wrong. It makes me wonder, have they even read the Bible before? The Bible is full of stories of people who are inadequate and don’t have it all together. We can think of numerous examples of people in Scripture who experience deep pain and sadness, and that doesn’t mean that God can’t still use them. Scripture reminds us that you don’t have to have it all together in order to be in relationship with God.
God is with you, whether you are happy or sad. God is with you, whether you are experiencing faith or doubt. God is with you, whether you are on the mountain or in the valley.
God is with you, and God will meet you where you are. There is always hope that things will get better. God’s grace is always there to surround us and overflow in our hearts and minds.
Those who know that God summons the sun to rise are confident that, whatever tomorrow brings, it will also bring God with it.”
– Thomas G. Long, (Long Matthew 1997)
God is not going to leave us where God found us. There is hope for a future, because God moves and works in our lives all the time – But maybe right now you are in a place where it seems hopeless. And in the meantime, just remember…
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