| Summer is Coming - Do You Have Your Vacation Planned? |
| Written by Debbie Spidle | ||||||
| Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:37 | ||||||
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Ah, the summer months…family picnics, swimming, lazy days…unless you are a Children’s Minister, right?! Your summer months may sound more like this…loads of extra hours on VBS, planning summer curriculum, sorting camp registrations, and scrambling to get volunteer positions covered while ‘other people’ vacation! If this sounds like you… You may be overlooking the most important detail of the whole summer…your family vacation! Now before you scream, “You don’t know what it’s like!” at me through your computer screen, just know that I do know what’s it’s like. I have walked many miles in your shoes, and I know how demanding it is being a Children’s Pastor. I also know that when I decided to make a family vacation one of my summer priorities, I became refreshed and refueled, and it generously spilled over to my ministry. I have to admit, I learned this the hard way. The first eight or so years in ministry, I didn’t really take family vacations. We might go on a short trip, here and there, but nothing too long, too far, and I was never without my laptop or cell phone so everyone could get a hold of me. I even worked when the kids were in bed, planning future curriculum and responding to messages. My husband once asked me if I could just ‘leave it’ for a few days and my reply was that I would never get caught-up if I did. I remember seeing other church staffers going away for a holiday and felt a little resentment, but mostly I just felt that my job was different, so I needed to keep plugging away. Sad, huh. The number one thing that changed my heart was the realization that every other child in the church had someone else who put them first…their parents. My three kids had to share their mom with all 500+ of the other kids and my choice to work all the time was not healthy for our family or honoring to God. So how did I do it? I prayed, I got smarter with my time, and I enabled others to lead in my absence. I also moved the date of Vacation Bible School to mid-June, so that the week after was spent cleaning and returning the church to normalcy, and the following two weeks were reserved (months in advance) for a weeklong trip and a weeklong stay-home vacation. So, what camp are you in? Do you have your summer vacation planned, or are you purposely planning not to take one? Think about it, pray about it, and then get going! I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you are convinced that you can’t take a vacation, let me know, I can give you some suggestions and/or have the Dynamic Prayer Team pray for you.
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