"A Dare to an Emptier, Fuller Life" | An Arguement and A Challenge

I’ve been rereading this book by Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts.  This book changed my perspective on life the first time I read it, and now that I’m rereading it, I feel refreshed all over again.  In this book, she talks of how the way to a full life is gratitude.  God says that we are to live a full life, in Him, and Ann’s argument is that the way to do that is with a heart of gratitude.  I think this is true. However, I also think that there are other ways to live a full life, completely for Christ.  I find that knowing Him, and His Word, and serving Him are doorways to a full life as well.

[I hope you read the book so that what I’m going to say has context. It’s really a very good book.]

As I’m reading this book, her idea of counting gifts is healing to her and brings her into a deeper understanding of eucharisteo.  What I’ve noticed in her counting is that she counts things.  She counts the gifts of “mail in mailbox,” “sun-rays spread across hardwood floors,” and others.  Sometimes she counts things about her family, but most of her gifts are tangible things.  I understand that in order to be grateful for all things, putting a name to it brings about gratitude.  And in noticing the details of life, she is able to have a joyous attitude. 

I’ve learned that people have a happier, fuller life if they invest in experiences instead of stuff.  For example, typically there are two ways for people to budget out their money.  There are those who place value on vacations and doing things, and those who place value on having nice homes, cars, and stuff.  Now, the tricky thing is that sometimes things play a role in experiences, but overall those who invest more in experiences are more content in life.  Stuff always changes.  There will always be a new smart-phone to buy, a bigger TV, and a newer, faster car.  But experiences can be constant.  They happen, and they can’t be outdone, because they are ours. 

As I’m reading through this book and on a quest to live fully as God intends, I think that counting experiences and relationships has more value.  God calls us to live in relationship with Him and His creation, not with the things He’s placed around us.  It is important to appreciate nature, and I think that it brings us to an attitude of contentment, but I think there’s also more.

I also find it difficult to read this book because Ann lives on a large farm in Canada.  She’s in nature every day.  She home schools her children, and has the opportunity to be in her home, in the outdoors, and be grateful for that.  The majority of Americans live in metropolitan areas, such as myself (hence the name of this blog…life in the city).  Is it possible to be grateful in Dallas?  Amidst all the concrete, money, attitude, and people?  Ann has time for solitude, reflection, and gratitude…but do I?  When my weeks are full of youth, and school, and rushing, and I feel that my life is full already, is gratitude like Ann talks about really the ticket?  Is it how God fully wants us to live?  Maybe in gratitude, we turn our attention of what is in front of us to Him, Creator, and in doing so He is glorified.  Do I need to name them in the city?  Can I just be thankful that today I’m breathing and that He is reigning?

“This pen: this is nothing less than the driving of nails.  Nails driving out my habits of discontent and driving in my habit of eucharisteo.  I’m hammering in nails to pound out nails, ugly nails that Satan has pierced through the world, my heart.  It starts to unfold, light in the dark, a door opening up, how all these years it’s been utterly pointless to try to wrench out the spikes of discontent.  Because that habit of discontentment can only be driven out by hammering in one iron sharper.  The sleek pin of gratitude.”

So here I am.  At a place where I must do something, change something.  I know that if I ignore God’s teaching in my life, I’ll perish with discontentment.  So I’m going to start, for the next three weeks, naming gifts in the city.  I’m shooting for a few a day, no set number, just for the next three weeks.  And I’ll see what happens from there.  But my gifts must be experiences.  They are of the people I come in contact with, the lessons God teaches me, the small things that make a meaningful, lasting difference.

Join me?  In this discussion of gratitude and fullness, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

This Girls Minister's Dilemma

  Well, it's late and I cannot sleep.  My roommate slumbers away while I toss and turn, my mind wild with ideas.  I decided instead of fighting sleep, which may partly be due to the iced coffee this afternoon, I would be productive.  I have many thoughts and I wish to document them for future use, as well as to share them with you.

  I suppose I should update you on big changes coming from "Tales in Arkadelphia".  In a few short months, shorter than I care to count, this small town college girl will be a college graduate bound for the large suburbs once again.  I plan to pursue graduate school, but most importantly (at least to me...) I have the most fortunate position of starting a girls minister position at a church in Frisco.  (I do not think the position is public yet, hence why I leave details out.)  This excites me to no end!  The youth pastor and I have been praying about this possible opportunity since this last summer, and God is faithful and the position is coming to fruition! The closer May comes the more excited I am about it.  I suppose I will need a new name for this sporadically kept blog. Suggestions are certainly welcome. 

  My thoughts tonight resonate with a conversation that I have been having with myself for the past few weeks and which climaxed tonight during a phone call from my dad.  How encouraging and wonderful to have a father who is so supportive of my future plans! I cannot express how full my heart is because of this.  Despite how difficult this semester has been due to challenging classes and other life things, my days seem increasingly filled with girls ministry happenings here in Arkansas.  We are beginning to plan girls retreat and I cannot wait for the weekend to get here!  The conversation, due to this "all-things-girls-ministry" mindset, that has arisen has been "What is girls ministry??"

  I have begun to realize in the four years that I have been a part of the youth ministry at Park Hill and as I seek to define my future ministry that there are not many resources in the world for girls ministry.  This is a relatively new field, which means scarce resources.  There are plenty of ministries that travel around and host girls retreats[1], but what I seek is for full-time girls ministers.  I applaud the ministries that exist, however these ministries come in for a weekend and preach good truth to girls and then leave.  The Sunday school teachers and ministers are the ones who do life with the girls.  I want with such zeal for young women to know the love of Christ and what it truly means to be women of the Word, after God's heart, sanctified for Him.  There are so many things that I want to share with teenage ladies, but I'm not sure exactly how to go about it.  Thus, I am on a quest!

  I have begun to search for other girls ministers (because they are out there) and to see how they are doing ministry.  What I have mostly found is that girls ministry seems to be a subset of the overarching youth ministry.  In a sense it should be.  However, I propose that there is more.  I have found that the department of girls ministry has grown more in the past few years because ministers are realizing that girls are different from boys. Whoa, I know that may have just blown your mind, but hang with me.  Most youth ministries are led by men.  Which is great for many reasons, but I think that men are realizing that they cannot adequately minister to girls because they are different.  A 35 year old male cannot possibly know what it is like to be a middle school girl that is insecure of her figure, how well she fits in, or trying to find out who she is.  Boys go through adolescence on a different degree scale.  God made us this way, and it is good, because He made it so.  And because of these differences girls ministers are being hired, but what is our purpose?

  I have read many godly women's blogs[2] about how they are doing girls ministries and I am so thankful to be surrounded by saints with a heart that echoes my own for young women.  But what I have found is that girls ministry, for many, looks exactly like youth ministry except only girls are coming, and there is a lot more nail polish and fewer footballs.  I have seen as a common theme that on a large scale, girls ministry consists of a girls retreat in the spring, maybe some events just for fun, and some Bible studies that only ladies come to.  All of these things are good.[3] However, as I have been thinking and talking with my dad, my girls ministry needs to be something more than an extension of youth ministry.  It should not replace youth ministry, but there is a specific purpose for this.  I think that it should make ministers of our students[4], it should include mentorship-both for girls and by girls, it should be a year round program, it should be biblical, and should make women out of girls.  I'm not fully sure of what this means specifically yet, and I think that it will be a continual quest.

  So, as I jealously seek to know how to best minister to the ladies that have been and will be entrusted to me, and as I seek to redirect this blog, I plan to spend the next few weeks hashing out what I find to be girls ministry.  Any advice is welcomed, and all prayers are craved as I search Scripture and try to find God's heart for us as women.

 InJoy,

Brittany

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[1] http://www.sageministries.org/, http://idministries.com/, http://revolvetour.com/ are just a few.

[2] See http://blog.lproof.org/, http://radiantgirlministries.blogspot.com/, and http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/girlsministry/

[3] Well, I must say that I have a problem with the word events, but I think that is a different topic. I see too often that youth ministers fill their time with events and miss the point of making disciples and building relationships. I can literally set myself on fire and call it an event and attract 200 students, but what good does that do for the gospel? How have students left knowing what it looks like to live as God commands us? The word event in my mind suggests a onetime deal, a spiritual high, and leaving people on their own to figure out life. As a rule, I try to stay away from just an event.  I digress.

[4] For a full expansion of this idea, see Greg Ogden’s book, Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministryto the People of God. 

Book Three: Pigs In The House

In their pigpen nice and wide. three cute pigs sat side by side. Farmer Mac came in one day. Fed the pigs and spread some hay. He was running very late and forgot to shut the gate....

Is it sad that I have the whole beginning of this book memorized?
I'm kinda lame and didn't read a real book this week. Or at least I didn't finish one. I do have about two started, but they are longer and taking a little bit more time. So when I went home I saw that Mom had a bunch of our childhood books sitting on the fireplace, so I decided to read some of them and call it a book for 10-for-2010. :)

Dad would read Pigs In The House to us over and over and over. He has it more memorized than us kids do. It's the tale of some goofy pigs that have a free for all in the farm house. Clever and cute. :) I asked Brady if he had read it (I just didn't know since he is so much younger than us) and he said, "Yeah Brittany! Only like a thousand times." He then proceeds to quote some of the book. :) This book is definitely a staple in our family's reading.


I also read Blueberries for Sal. Another childhood favorite! I love the cute story of the mother and daughter picking blueberries while the mama bear and baby bear do the same. Precious! Not to mention the pictures are great!

Book Two: Velvet Elvis

I finally did it. Yesterday, by the lake, I finished Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Rob Bell is a pastor of Mars Hill church in California and does the Nooma videos, which are great! I have tried to read this book a few different times, and each time get stopped after the first few pages. [I have a problem with reading books] But this time I took it a chapter a night, and once I was past the preface was torn when I had to put it down. I loved it. I can't get the stuff in it out of my head. I keep thinking about it, and chewing on it, and processing it. I want to read it again and again, but maybe not just now. :)
This book was amazing! It made me think in so many ways. I really can't do this book justice by describing it or attempting to describe it. It opened my eyes to deeper meanings behind Scripture, as well as a better look at what it means to follow Christ, and what He calls us to. I highly recommend this book, and think that everyone should read it! But like all books it has to be read and then thought about and measured up against what you believe. Rob Bell has some different ideas, and it's ok not to agree with everything he says. It has to be measured up to what Scripture tells us, and in most areas he's right on! I just know that Rob Bell has been in the "Christian media" lately and I'm not sure what all he believes or if everything he says holds up, but Velvet Elvis was a wonderful book. Again, everyone should read it! :)

Book One: The Apothecary's Daughter

This week's book was The Apothecary's Daughter. I finished it last night at midnight, and it was really a good book. It reminded me a bit of reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The way it was written and the content was vaguely similar.
A bit of a book review: This book was about a young woman, Lilly, who was the daughter of an apothecary. She wants to get out of her small little town and see the world. She goes to live with her aunt and uncle in London to get introduced into society and meets many suitors. She then receives news that her father is ill and needs help in his apothecary's shop. She returns to help and the rest of the book is about her finding love between three different guys and coming back to lean on God for everything. It's a sweet story. I don't want to ruin the ending for those that might read it later. :)

One week down. Now I've got to go pick a new book for this week! Suggestions are welcome. :)