Last Friday evening I watched with wonder how my amazing colleagues served our Lord by serving one another and people they’d just met with such compassion and humility that the visual images will stick with me for the rest of my days. Many of these folks have been in professional ministry for more than twenty years using their gifts and graces, not their position, to be fully present for whomever God set before us. We registered early for the event. We attended the required training. We loved our colleague who led the charge so much that she didn’t have to worry about when or where we’d be. We’d be right there to do whatever was needed to provide an exceptional and unforgettable experience for our honored guests and their families. We arrived early. We set up. We stayed late. We mopped. We took instruction. We served. I’d never been so excited to be dressed all in black in all my life!

The weekend prior to Valentine’s Day is Night to Shine. Night to Shine honors teens and adults with special needs by giving them their own special night of games, dancing, food, fellowship, where every boy and girl, man and woman is crowned prom king or prom queen. The Tim Tebow Foundation started Night to Shine six years ago with 44 churches in 2014, now more than 700 churches around the world host the prom. My local church, in partnership with two other United Methodist Churches in our district, provided this special event for 125 honored guests.

Yes, our honored guests were celebrated and their families offered respite and an amazing dinner. But let me tell you what else I saw…

The event-leader was a part-time staff member who is a full-time Jesus gal who led a multi-church team which led hundreds of volunteers to be the hands and feet of Jesus. This didn’t even fall under her role on staff, but organized, encouraging, super-prepared, and all-in, her colleagues joined her in the charge because we love her deeply and whatever she leads, we know will honor the Lord. Her husband guided and directed all things transportation with an awesome team, loaded, carted, escorted, and ….

The Recreation Ministry Lead was assigned the most personal interaction as a buddy. I watched that man laugh, talk with, enjoy the company of, cut the food and hand feed his honored guest, then stayed for hours afterward to mop the floor.

The Youth Ministry Lead took photos and took down decorations. The Nursery Ministry Lead and her husband took professional photos for guest take-aways.

The Financial Department Lead greeted guests with energy and excitement and was the event lead’s gopher for the night, never leaving her post. The Head of the Finance Committee directed traffic in 30 degree weather.

The Worship Minister ran for the medical team when needed, ran messages for food allergies, danced with guests, announced the prom kings, and worked the room of buddies and guests making sure everyone was comfortable while her Choir and music ministry team provided a red carpet experience like no other.

An Admin served in the Sensory Room while another placed crowns on the heads of God’s precious.

One of my Super McEachern Kids Dads took bathroom duty. One new Sergeant and a new Dad took on security like the City Police Officer bosses they are. Another Super Dad shined shoes. A Super Mom cheered along with the Choir and Joyful Singers along the red carpet with her own Mom. Two Super Moms led a team to turn a gym into a Tiffany Blue Ballroom. Almost my entire team of McEachern Kids Sunday Morning Leaders were buddies, served food, played corn hole, ran the karaoke room, or danced all night long.

I didn’t see all the other 200 servant-leader volunteers, but what I did see reminded me how good the leaders of God’s church can be. I serve the local church with die-hard, hard-working, servant leaders who are the 6am workers Jesus talks about in Matthew 20 and the faith-builders in Nehemiah 6. I love these people so much as they live out 1 Corinthians 13 every single day.

In the words of our special musical guest Elvis, “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

One of the most profound general sessions of the 2020 Children’s Pastor’s Conference was led by Darren Whitehead. Darren Whitehead along with Chris Tomlin wrote Holy Roar: 7 Words That Will Change The Way You Worship. Though I’m still in the middle of this small, yet delightful book, I keep coming back to how I felt when I heard Pastor Whitehead share about the seven Hebrew words for PRAISE. We have one word PRAISE in the English language. The first people of Jesus have seven very distinct words.

Yadah, yaw-daw’ – to revere/worship with extended hands. It is natural to raise our hands in celebration, but not everyone raises their hands in worship. Extending our hands up in celebration is natural on the ball field, at an intense board game with the family, and can be in worship. Psalm 67:3

Halal, haw-lal’ – to boast, shine, celebrate, to be clamorously foolish. It’s where we get our word ‘Hallelujah’. Think about the crazy, demonstrative joy of friends and family dancing at a wedding. There is great joy and we dance in celebration. Psalm 149:3

Tehillah, teh-hil-law’ – A hymn, a song of praise, a new song, a spontaneous song. Ever felt the need to spontaneously praise the Lord out-loud, in public, in gratitude and open joy? Ever listened to a song on repeat because you just couldn’t get enough of it?

Zamar, zaw-mar’ – to make music. Think of a soundtrack that would guide you through a remarkable moment of life. Or when God is in the music you hear at a time of celebration. Johann Sebastian Back was often quoted as saying, “I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.” Psalm 144:9

Towdah, to-daw’ – an extension of the hand in thanksgiving for things not yet received; a sacrifice of praise. Ever been in a season where you sing yet your heart is broken? Ever choked through a song with tears streaming? Though my heart does not feel it, I will sing through the tears. Psalm 42:4

Barak, baw-rak’– a posture of praise to salute, to thank, to kneel, to bless God as an act of adoration. Jesus is THE King, but more importantly, Jesus is MY King.  Psalm 103:1-2, 20-22

Shabach, shw-bakh’ – to address in a loud tone. To shout. To declare glory and triumph. Pastor Whitehead shared a video clip of the spontaneous roar that took place when the Chicago Cubs finally won a World Series after waiting 108 years. Yeah…THAT spontaneous roar of praise. Psalm 63:1, 3-4

This little book has personal and group reflection questions at the end of each chapter AND after Chris Tomlin shares personal testimony about how he has written music and shared music which practices each one of these seven Hebrew words for praise.

After this teaching, I can’t listen to music the same as before. I can’t even worship the same as before. I’ve already purchased this book for others and I know of colleagues who have passed their own personal book to leaders admired. I have a freshness for worship today that reminds me of my first experiences of Christian music outside the local church and even before Christian radio. That CD made my car, my home, and my classroom a sacred space. My first? Phillips, Craig & Dean.

“Worship at its best is a social experience with people of all levels of life coming together to realize their oneness and unity under God.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

This was the second year I was invited to serve as a coach at the annual Children’s Pastor’s Conference sponsored by International Network of Children’s Ministry. It’s one of the many highlights of the entire week. INCM does a fabulously thorough job of training coaches to be great listeners to direct our fellow children’s ministry champions to understand they each have what it takes to fulfill God’s call on their lives where He’s called them to serve. With forms in hand to better clarify our time together, we begin our thirty-minute session diving into the deep end of being new to children’s ministry or whatever has him/her stuck.

Communication among staff was the common topic shared at my table. These are a few thoughts we shared together:

First, ask these inquiries of fellow staff members/pastor(s):
1. What is the best way to communicate with you?
2. What’s off limits?
3. Tell me about the best children’s ministry leader you ever worked with.
These three inquiries are good to ask of new staff members, as well, after he/she has been there a couple of days. And always come bearing a gift of some logo-ed swag or a tasty beverage from Quick Trip.

Second, when setting a meeting date for a face-to-face or phone call, follow it up with an email, “As per our conversation today in the hallway, let’s confirm we will meet next Tuesday (date), at (time), at (location.) Will that still work for you?” It’ll give time to check schedules and get a response that you heard properly. Then follow up with a text the morning of the afternoon meeting or the evening before a morning meeting. If a text reminder works for the dentist, it’ll surely work for you. Once confirmed, do your very best to not make changes. To make changes tells your colleague/pastor that your time is more important than his/hers, and it’s unprofessional and disrespectful. If it happens to you, make it a matter of prayer and forgive so your head can move on. We have an enemy who doesn’t want church staff to work well or be unified in purpose and it’s NOT your fellow staff member/pastor(s).

Third, pray for favor in the eyes, heart, and mind of your fellow staff member/pastor(s) for yourself and the ministry you lead. This may sound silly, but I also pray that the Lord would lead the staff member/pastor to like me. Yeah! It’s totally okay to ask in prayer that people would like you. Pray also that you would like him/her. The Body of Christ is better when working together in community which means we must talk and communicate well with one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

What would you add?

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:12-13

It is an ugly, awful, terribly misguided myth that churches can’t grow during the summer. Don’t listen to it. Don’t buy into it. Don’t settle for it. Summer is the perfect time to try new things, change up each week, and be so invitational it makes your hospitality team wonder where you came from. You’ve got to intentionally plan for it.

It’s not just about VBS week, but the weekend after and every day until fall programming starts. I know of too many churches offering amazing Vacation Bible Schools as ‘outreaches’ yet plan nothing special to offer afterward to continue to build relationships, connections, and faith-formation experiences beyond a laid-back Sunday morning. We put in all that work, all those resources, and we’ve dropped the ball. We take a summer break. We think since most people are gone during the summer, we just can’t pull it off. I’m not gone. Are you gone? These are some of the holidays we’ll be celebrating intentionally the summer of 2020 in an effort for our church family to linger, build relationships, and invite our community to share.

5/31…5th Sunday/Pentecost Sunday – wear red to church (also the start of our VBS!)
6/7…National Chocolate Ice Cream Day – mini chocolate ice cream cones after 11am service
6/14…Flag Day – wear your Red, White, & Blue
6/21…Pops with Pops for Father’s Day…popsicles with Dad– photo booth in CLC
6/28…McPeachern…enjoy a BBQ lunch and all the peach fixins after all morning services during the height of our state’s peach season. This is the only McEachern Kids fundraiser of the year so the kids will be serving and we’ll all be wearing any McEachern Kids tshirt we’ve got in the closet.
We invite each age level to bring the following to the CLC kitchen first thing that morning:
Each Kindergartner & 1st grader: 3 huge bags of tortilla chips & 1 bottle of BBQ sauce
Each 2nd & 3rd grader: 3 large bags of rolls for BBQ sandwiches
Each 4th & 5th grader: 2 pans of homemade peach cobbler (we provide peach salsa, peach tea, and our fabulous men’s ministry prepares 140 pounds of BBQ pork)
7/5…National Graham Cracker Day (serve S’mores between services over Sterno in jars)
7/12…National Eat Your Jello Day (serve multicolored Jello cups)
7/19…National Ice Cream Sundae Day (7/20) – Ice Cream Truck Sunday. Other ministries get in on this one but giving tickets to each of their volunteers to get a free treat from the ice cream truck. Last year, we partnered with the adult education team and the nurture team of senior adult and counseling ministries, then split the cost three ways.
7/26…National Bagel Day – serve mini bagels & cream cheese in Welcome Center & 5th grade Parent breakfast – Next steps for rising 6th graders
8/2…National Ice Cream Sandwich Day – serve mini ice cream sandwiches; I Can Go To Sunday School Faith Milestone for all rising Kindergartners at 12:15-12:30pm
8/9…Promotion Sunday! Meet & Greet for Sunday school at 9:30am (Theme?)
8/16…Freeze pops with Parents after both services
8/23…Bubble Bash (fizzy drinks, soda, sparkling cider, Bubble gum, Bubble wands, foam pit, etc.)
8/30…5th Sunday – Everybody’s Birthday Party (Glee Club/Cherubs sing at 11am service); classic party games + cake & punch + party hats (decorate) + treat bags + Jesus message + balloon games + group games

Gather some of your leadership. Pull out a watermelon and some lemonade. Plan for some great summer Sundays!

“They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.” Psalm 145:7

Each January we gather for a pasta dinner as a leadership team before the first Sunday of the year. We met at Olive Garden last year, but our team continues to grow so we met at a team member’s home this year. We picked up fabulous take-out of meat lasagna and spinach tortellini with all the yummy bread and salad from a local Italian restaurant so we could easily move around, chat, share holiday news, and enjoy each other’s company.

To open our leadership conversation, I passed out several index cards, the 2020 Super Summer Sunday idea list, and the five major celebrations of the previous year to toot our horn about. We invited everyone to write on the index cards any thought, idea, or suggestion which came to mind to turn in at the end of the evening. Included on the celebrations sheet were our planned and scheduled experiences designated as Meat, Milestones, Mountain Top Experiences, and Marvelous Moments for McEachern Kids.

Conversations…
– 5 major 2019 celebrations (toot their horns) See last week’s blogpost
– June through August Summer special Sunday brainstorming (why?)
– Idea of a monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly thirty-minute Children’s Ministry Open House immediately following the last Sunday service to enthusiastically introduce how we can join in a family’s quest to grow closer to Jesus AND offer a tour of our environments, spaces, and routines.
– Idea of a Summer Book Club for K5-3rd grade (index cards came in with book suggestions and people to talk to)
– Ideas of more inter-generational opportunities (index cards came in with suggestions and people to talk to)
– 2020 Family Christmas event
– Ideas for topics for Parenting With A Purpose classes

The stack of handwritten index cards were filled with ideas, drawings, dreams, and requests to get together soon to discuss further. I read them over tea the next morning and I couldn’t quit smiling. I share life with the most amazing Jesus disciples.

Next Monday I’ll be making a bunch of phone calls to reserve foam pits and Ice Cream trucks. Now I’m ready for the Family Ministry team meeting next Tuesday to calendar the summer and much of the fall with room reservations and online registration forms ready in February. Wednesday and Thursday we will gather images and map out the communications plans for the year for those Marvelous Moments especially.

How do you get to brainstorm and celebrate all of your children’s ministry team’s pasta-bilities?

“They gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.” Acts 14:27

Sunday comes every seven days and now that Christmas has been a huge success, it’s time to think about Easter. Let me stop you right there inviting you to take thirty minutes to do two things:
1. Write down five major accomplishments and successes of the last year to report anywhere you can, and
2. Write down five resolutions – lenses through which you’ll look in the year to come.

First, the five major accomplishments/successes of 2019…for me?
1. Parenting With A Purpose Classes for parents and grandparents as we walk into the challenges we face to lead our littles to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength AND love our neighbors as ourselves.
2. Initiated a God & Me and God & Family program for 1st-5th graders to share with their parents who will be recognized on 2020 Scout Sunday in service with brunch.
3. Began an exclusive monthly experience for 3rd-5th graders in play, Bible study, and service we call CLUB345.
4. Offering three Christian education and relationship building, developmentally appropriate experiences for 11am service: K5 & 1st grade Children’s Church, 2nd & 3rd grade Bible Black Belts, 4th & 5th grade Well-Versed Kids deep diving into the Holy Habit of journaling.
5. The incredibly committed leaders who faithfully prepare and execute these experiences and more. I’m surrounded by the most amazing team of Jesus guys and gals! Our team is built not on tasks to be accomplished, but friendships to be made.

Second, the five areas of resolve as my responsibility as a leader in 2020…for me?
1. Jesus every time, every Sunday, all the time.
2. Get trained in community. Attending a training/conference on my own only helps me. But in community, the partnership is plentiful, the brainstorming is relevant, and the implementation is shared so to equip my church and other churches through shared events. #bettertogether
3. Remain in upgrade mode, tossing or passing along what we can not use from the closets, and asking more questions than making statements in every conversation.
4. Stay in the word: The Bible. A regular diet of God’s word lets me know His voice when it’s time to shoot a cannonball or eat a frog. Bible Reading is the holy habit that reminds me He is who He says He is, and I am who He says I am.
5. Offer developmentally appropriate experiences which are sticky where children and families can build relationships with Jesus and one another straight-up…not a stretch…not an afterthought…not just a goal, but the purpose.

Ministry Architects calls this exercise ‘balcony time.’ “In balcony time, we step out of the wild, rushing current of doing ministry and step into a place where we actually work on our ministries. It is in the balcony that we gain the perspective to work on our ministries, not just in them. In the balcony, we find the leverage to move our ministries forward; it’s in the balcony that we learn to say no to secondary priorities in order to attend to the most essential ones.”

Can you schedule some balcony time before you start a new year in ministry?

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8

 

 

On Monday, January 6, 2020 I will begin facilitating a new Facebook Bible study reading through the gospels. The following blog was originally posted November 10, 2015 and gives the basis for this journey. If you’d like to be part of the new group, ask to join the private Facebook group here. 

When my Uncle John passed away 27 years ago, he shared in a recording for his family of wisdom and several life regrets. As a professing Christian, one of his major regrets of his life was not reading the Bible all the way through. In two weeks, 10 days to be specific, I will complete a journey that started on January 1, 2011: Reading through the Bible…in community. The community was within a closed Facebook group.

Our senior pastor sets a scripture to give clarity and a focus for our local church for the upcoming new year. On Christmas Eve 2010, He called us to ‘Let the Spirit of God grow in you’ for 2011. Seemed easy enough: be a part of a Bible study.

But I had some challenges:
1. I lived 50 minutes away from the church
2. I was on staff, so I could be seen as an ‘authority’, though FAR from it
3. Most of the congregation commuted to downtown Atlanta for work and had little time to carve out one more thing like a typical Bible study
4. I had just started at this church, so I had no real credibility in being part of a discipleship program…these folks didn’t know me from Adam’s house cat

So I opened a closed Facebook group to begin early January. The parameters were…
1. We’d promote it in the church and on Facebook
2. Starting in Matthew, we’d follow a reading plan, reading one chapter in the New Testament, in order, each day
3. We’d post our train of thought in a comment each day, though we’d take weekends and holidays off
4. The first one to post started with a comment (January 6: Matthew 1: ‘comment’) and others would add their comments to the comment stream.

We started with five commenters/members. We found after we read the New Testament that we wanted to continue, but with adjusted parameters:
1. Read one chapter each day beginning in Psalms and through Proverbs, taking the weekends and holidays off
2. Periodically promote it in the bulletin and on Facebook allowing others to join if one of the originating members knew them.
3. We’d keep on reading, keep on commenting, and if a fellow sojourner wanted to join in who was known by a member of the group, we’d add them

After finishing the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs, we completed the first year. But found we wanted to continue this holy habit, this new spiritual discipline. So come January 2012, we started the Old Testament, one chapter each day, taking the weekends and holidays off. The first to comment started the stream for that day.

Today, we have thirty members, but typically have only three to five comment, or ‘like’, or view. We have members from all over the country and include both men and women. Members have come in and out in comment activity. Each one perhaps not able to carve hours out of their daily schedule to gather together and study the Bible in a typical way. Rather, we have dedicated to start out each morning with reading one chapter each day and commenting what is on our hearts and minds, a simple prayer, keeping it clean of dis-unifying rants, and just sharing in our pajamas or work suits and over a cup of coffee or tea or Diet Coke.

The accountability has been fantastic. The habit has been transforming. There are now a few folks who know ALL the colors of my rainbow through the lens of scripture…and I remember a whole lot more of what I’ve read. For goodness sakes, just when I thought obeying God couldn’t get any more difficult, I read in Isaiah 20 that God asked Isaiah to go around stripped and barefoot for 3 years….naked and barefoot for 3 years! And Isaiah did it! I don’t know how I missed that before.

We’ve decided to continue on through the New Testament again in two weeks. For just about everyone, they accomplished something rare, especially for Christians….American Christians: They read the whole Bible through.

Have you?

“The most frequent excuse for not growing in our spiritual lives is lack of time. Most of us live at the mercy of our schedule, instead of planning ahead and arranging our schedule around our apprenticeship to Jesus.” Rev James Bryan Smith, from The Good And Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

Devotionals for children to partner with daily Bible Reading are difficult to find for middle to upper elementary students and I love everything about Breakfast With Jesus: 100 Devotions For Kids About the Life of Jesus. Vanessa Myers is a children’s ministry colleague from North Georgia. She’s a wife, mother of two amazing girls, soccer mom, Georgia Tech fan and Duke University alumni, and fabulous Children’s Pastor at Dahlonega First United Methodist Church. This is her second book and she knocked it out of the park.

Breakfast With Jesus: 100 Devotions for Kids About the Life of Jesus walks through the four gospels providing 100 short, kid-friendly devotionals. Vanessa chose the perfect colors, a fun layout, elementary-sized words which point children to Jesus. Inside are kid-friendly breakfast recipes and sticky situations sprinkled throughout. Want that long-lost sausage ball recipe? She’s got it! Vanessa presents Jesus as a kid’s friend and how they (we) can become more like Jesus today!

Each devotion offers scripture, a conversational teaching story about Jesus, closing in a prayer and a “Follow Me” challenge for the day. This is all developmentally appropriate for middle to upper elementary to read on their own or an early elementary student to be read to. This devotional is also one which can be repeated because it clearly lives in a kid’s world with situations and suggestions to apply to every day. I ordered multiple copies for some special Oregon grands and their friends for Christmas knowing it was ready for shipping on December 16.

As the New Year is here, holy habits start anew. Daily Bible reading is a holy habit that we share with the Christian saints of the past and faithful disciples of today. A devotional is a great way to partner with daily Bible reading which we know is the #1 spiritual activity that makes the greatest impact on a child’s life as a follower of Jesus to remain a follower of Jesus throughout the rest of their lives. (Lifeway, Nothing Less: Engaging Kids In A Lifetime of Faith, Jana Magruder, 2017, pg. 53) 

Want a free copy of Breakfast With Jesus? Tag a children’s ministry champion or parent friend who could use this fabulous resource with their children on this Facebook or Instagram post. Every friend tagged counts as a separate entry. On Friday, December 27, I’ll announce the winner and Vanessa will send to you your very own personal copy of this wonderful book.

The next stop on the Breakfast With Jesus blog tour is Dec. 30 with Stacey Shannon at www.familieswithgrace.com. I’m off to get those sausage balls ready for Christmas morning. Merry Christmas!

“Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of hte disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ they knew it was the Lord.” John 21:12

Congratulations Kate Morris, Family Ministry Director serving Acworth United Methodist Church located in Acworth, Georgia will be receiving her own personal copy of Breakfast with Jesus!

This week’s guest blogger is Hannah Harwood, Director of Children’s Ministries serving the families of Sam Jones United Methodist Church in Cartersville, Georgia, a suburb of the Greater Atlanta area.

I love out of the box events. My absolute favorite events are when families are invited to gather in community to do something out of the ordinary. I have been at Sam Jones United Methodist Church for little over two years. My first event was actually our Happy Birthday Jesus party when we all went together to see The Star and packed out a movie theater. The next Christmas, we gathered together and made Gingerbread nativities. I was so excited to find The Manger Project for this year.  This event by Dema Kohen was a perfect fit for our church community.

First, I ordered the blueprints and contacted our Building and Grounds Supervisor who is always game for an adventure project. He took the blueprint and purchased enough wood to make thirty kits for thirty families. He packaged the thirty kits into VBS crew bags and included a sandwich bag of the needed nails.

I also contacted a church member who works for Home Depot and asked for donations of their child-size work aprons. I looked into my box of safety goggles for another event and put those to the side as well. Because it would be a very loud event, I also created a sensory friendly room.

In our sensory-friendly room, I purchased Advent posters from Illustrated Ministry and several easy crafts from Hobby Lobby. I set up that room with the posters and lots of brand new colored pencils. New pencils are a source of so much joy!

We have an amazing preschool at our church. We made sure and not only invited our church families, but our preschool families as well.

We intentionally set up fifteen tables in the main room and decorated using plastic tablecloths. We set up all the kits on a long table and displayed the aprons, safety goggles, and extra hammers. Each family was invited to bring their own hammer. For food, each family brought their favorite Christmas snack and we set up a fun hot chocolate bar.

As people arrived, they were encouraged to color a banner and put their food items on the table. It was so fun to see all the families color together and even our Pastor joined in on the fun. Once everyone arrived, we invited each family to pick a table so that two families shared a table. So many of the parents met new friends. Our carpenter explained each part step by step. Next, came the Carol of the Hammers. Be prepared to take lots of pictures as it was so much fun to see each family work together and take turns building their manger. Even the littlest ones got to take a turn hammering. After we finished the project and wrote the date with sharpies, it was time for food and fellowship. The entire event lasted around an hour and a half which was perfect for our families’ busy schedules. Now… what adventure should we go on next year?

Hannah Harwood is a wife, mom, and loves her coffee. Hannah can be contacted by emailing hharwood@samjonesumc.org.

“and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” Luke 2:7

Jesus, children, grandchildren, and tea are four of my very favorite things. Sally Clarkson’s new devotional, Mom Heart Moments: Daily Devotions for Life-giving Motherhood speaks of all four with great encouragement and raw emotion.

I typically don’t use a devotional as part of my daily quiet time, but rather read the scriptures, journal, and pray using prayer books to guide me. I feel my prayer vocabulary is limited. Prayer can make things happen that won’t without it. Prayer can make things not happen that could happen without it, as well. For almost twenty years, I’ve used Stormie Omartian’s Power of a Praying Wife and Power of a Praying Parent each day to pray specifically for my husband and my children, now my grandchildren. It’s organized into thirty chapters with very specific prayers for various areas of my people’s life. It helps me to go beyond, ‘Fix them, Lord,’ or ‘I lift up…..” Thirty days, one for each day of the month.

Several years ago, I also began using Susanna Wright’s new edition of John Baillie’s A Diary of Private Prayer. The prayers are organized by morning and evening with special prayers for Sundays. Anybody else need special prayers for Sundays? A Diary of Private Prayer was originally published in 1936. There’s something to be said for being guided by the prayers of the saints, the dutiful, and those who totally understood conflict, hope, and change.

Anyway, Sally Clarkson is on the grandmother side of life. She raised four children, and moved around the world with her husband. Her books include titles such as The Mission of Motherhood, The Ministry of Motherhood, Season’s of a Mother’s Heart, just to name a few. My first Sally Clarkson book was the fabulous Life-Giving Home: Creating A Place for Belonging and Becoming which is all about providing the sacred space, faith-filled traditions, and an environment of hope and love for your family in your home.

My daughter just finished Different: The Story of an Outside-the-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him which Sally wrote with her son, Nathan. From early childhood, Nathan was bursting with uncontainable energy and diagnosed with anxiety and OCD. Bravely choosing to listen to her motherly intuition, Sally dared to believe that Nathan’s differences could be part of an intentional design from a loving Creator with a plan for his life. Sally has spent some devotional-prayer time on behalf of her son and both she and Nathan share their stories. No Stepford children here…no Stepford mama, either. She’s got some scars and she’s had some amazing celebrations.

Today, Mom Heart Moments begins with Isaiah 40:11, then jumps right into, Somewhere along the way, I decided to put the load of guilt from all the ways I had failed into the file drawers of heaven and mark forgiven over them. (pg. 346). Yesterday, the short devotion included her admission to being overwhelmed because I felt trapped and wondered if I would truly make it through the rest of the years of my children being at home…..DON’T STAY THERE! MOVE ON! The day before she spoke of of an annual Christmas tea when she and her daughters would also invite two or three women or girls who didn’t have family or friends in town, or who we thought might need some special encouragement.

This devotional is where I’m at. One day recalling a memory of great joy, another day wondering if I can remain strong with a holy energy on those ministry marathon days.
As you begin to consider how you want the new year to begin, perhaps a new devotional, a new prayer book, or the start of a new holy habit might be just the thing to jump-start the weary. I decided not to wait until January.

What do you use to guide your daily devotional time?