How to have a balanced ministry …

After a late night with friends.. till  midnight, my goodness….

after deconstructing what this thing called life… called ministry should look like

that idea of ministry, which for so many is  at the expense of family, of your children,

at the expense of marriages and relationships….

at the expense of love

how its been done for generations

then reconstructing it in a way that doesn’t match the way it has been…

a slower way…. not one that zips noisy  and uncontrollably up a hill and talks of every thing that is “mine”  or of unforseen treasures that might be here, all the while ignoring the people it passes by or the actual communities that are forging love and everyday scraping off the dross that accumulates from  sticking it out together…

but one that creates relationships and starts community…. one that stops for the one and raises up kings and queens in their own homes.

A ministry that never made anyone feel condemned for spending time with a Father or a father.

talking that through … unwrapping dreams brewing in hearts till we go to bed heavy with hope and vision.

So groggy this morning… but so worth it for what I have gained.

There is only one thing to do when you have to retype all your brief words because your fingers and mind can’t communicate from lack of sleep…

just

list ….

  I am Thankful….

• a studio full of cheery forsythia blooms and plump lemons!
• a very full hay room stocked to the top!
• this oldest son of mine who leaves gifts on my desk to greet me in the morning.
• one warmish day…. err… I am really giving that more credit than it deserves
• migrating geese that tilt our heads towards the heavens.
• i finally pruned those rose bushes waaaaaay back…. I guess I just needed to have a head cold and nonstop sneezing with a windy day to get it done.
• for Garden has only taken one chicken for a walk… around the pasture… in her mouth… just one.
• waking this HusBen up in the morning by holding his hand and thumb wrestling
• that good achy feeling in my shoulders that says I showed those rose bushes who was the boss
• how the kids greet me on Saturday mornings with, “Tonight is a new Dr.Pol!!”
• sitting around together on Saturday nights watching The Incredible Dr.Pol .
• dream interpretation  and talks of what real loving ministry looks like, way into the night with friends.
• the hen community  morning shadows on the barn doors.