Kid's Ministry Coffee Break | A Few Minutes of Spiritual Refreshment for Children & Youth Ministers.
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
"WHAT INSPIRES YOU?" Kids Ministry Coffee Break 12: We need to know what inspires us--what we are passionate about--so we can participate in our God-given calling. Here's how to get started.
Coffee Break 12 - What Inspires You?
No one stumbles into ministry. We were all called. No one would choose this unless they were called, right? Ministry is hard work—much of which is done behind the scenes. Sometimes we can get caught up in the routines of the work to the point where we run out of time to do the things which really inspire us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for emails and texts…but they don’t inspire me. I love meetings, but I’m rarely inspired by them.
In my training I participated in a course called Christian Vocation. We explored what it means to live out a calling. One day we focused on what inspires us. They had an exercise for us to do to identify our inspiration.
We did free-writing for 5 minutes on two statements. Free-writing is when you don’t stop writing for a designated amount of time. You just start writing whatever thought comes to your head. If you don’t have anything to write, then you write that—I don’t have anything to write—until something come to mind. We did 5 minutes of free-writing to finish two statement…one at a time. The irst was this, “I love it when…” I began writing for 5 minutes based on that intro. I love it when… I wrote and wrote about things and instances and dreams which brought great joy to me. The second was, “I get angry when…” 5 minutes: “I get angry when…”
https://10bibleverses.com/scripture-quotes/what-are-the-top-10-bible-verses/
I wrote and wrote about things that really bothered me and incited anger within me. After we finished, we divided into groups of 3 or 4 and took turns reading each other’s free-writings. I was amazed at what I saw.
No one wrote about what I did when it came to what they love or what made them angry. I had written about unity, connection, respect, dignity…and then lack of unity, connection, respect dignity. A friend wrote about nature and trees and then pollution and destruction. Another wrote about women’s rights and then about sex-trafficking. The point was to figure out where our heart was focused. On what work inspires us and fulfills the longing of our souls. We were encouraged to get involved in some what with the things that inspire us.
I don’t know why I had assumed people loved and got angry about the same things I did. They didn’t. And I didn’t spend time dreaming and steaming about the things they did either. We realized that we are all given gifts and perspectives that vary. As a group of people, we were inspired to address a very high number of things in our community and world. It’s as if…we are all needed and all inspired to serve different needs. Which is, of course, the truth. You are needed and the need God has for you involves your inspiration.
You may assume others see what you see, but they don’t. Others may assume you need to be inspired by what inspires them…but you may not be; and that’s okay.
If you’ve been feeling like something is missing… That you love life and ministry and your family and everything else you can name…but you also feel like there’s more for you… try free-writing to see what it has to teach you.
We are made to be inspired. We are made to be uniquely inspired. We are made to be a part of a larger body where many needs can be served together.
So, my friend, go and find yours. Find what gets your heart pumping with both joy and frustration. Spend time in prayer about WHY those things get your heart pumping.
Offer a prayer to God to help you live into what inspires you…and see where God takes you.
Message brought to you by Rev. Joseph Sanford from The Sanford Curriculum written by Joseph and Lauren Sanford and available on sundayschool.store
Music brought to you by The Muse Maker: themusemaker.com
https://sundayschool.store/collections/easter-curriculum-for-childrens-ministry
https://youthgroupministry.com/lessons/prodigal-son-youth-lesson-luke-15-gods-forgiveness-lesson/
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