Sunday's are unbelievable at the "Blue House" Let me walk you through.
Don't worry, I'll tell you how to stay steady and sane on the way!
8:45a.m. My friend, Chi, arrives with food for the B&B college ministry
*B&B = Bible &Breakfast
9:00 a.m. the church bus pulls up to our door to drop off eager friends
We eat breakfast and look into the word of God together.
How do I keep my head this early in the morning?
#1. Get someone else to bring the food. Thanks Chi! You're awesome!
#2. Clean and prep the house the night before.
Expecting to get up in the morning and be ready is a serious mistake.
#3. Get a good night sleep the night before if at all possible
#4.. Pray for the students the night before. The chalkboard in my entry way helps me find out great stuff about each student.
10:30a.m. Church
Okay B&B is over so let's walk across the parking lot to church. Oops first let me throw the chicken and potatoes I prepped the night before into my oven so we have food for our lunch guests.
Okay, now we can go to church.
How do I keep my head?
#1. As I walk across the parking lot, I pray for peace and sometimes strength to be a blessing to the people inside God's house.
#2. I also, pop a breath mint!
11:45a.m. Lunch guests
We don't actually have lunch guests every Sunday. But when we do it's often international students from Wheaton College.
How do I keep my head?
#1. I serve buffet style on this "island" in the middle of my kitchen. This keeps things simple
#2. I serve a meat, a starch like potatoes or rice, a hot veggie like peas or corn and a lettuce salad. Desert is often store bought cookies and ice cream.
2:00p.m. guests are gone!
Let's Nap!
Truly one of the best ways to keep sane on a Sunday! Take a 20 min. nap!
Now the evening comes and I know this is crazy but we have two small groups that meet at our house on Sunday night.
The first group arrives at 6:00p.m. and stays until 7:30p.m. This is an important group to me. They are the ones with whom we share most deeply. Keeping my head with them is easy! I lean on them and they pray for me. They lean on me and I pray for them.
7:45p.m. Jane & Tea night
By now, you'd think I'd be dead dog tired! Nope. Every single Sunday God gives exactly what's needed. This is actually one of my absolute favorite activities! Friends come over and we drink tea, create some sort of simple craft and watch one hour of something we're into. Right now, it's the six hour version of Pride and Prejudice.
How do I keep my head?
#1. Greeting the girls with joy and being honest about where I'm at physically. Sometimes, I spend more time on the couch than they do.
#2. Put out simple snacks. I've even served tea and toast to great approval!
10:00p.m. Fall straight into bed and sleep like a rock!
I will admit two things that are true about me right now.
#1. I have older children at home. 10 and 17
#2. I sleep in on Mondays and spend most of my time on the computer creating posts and resting.
So whatever your Sunday's look like, I hope you'll find ways to stay organized and be prepared ahead of time for whatever God may have in store for you. As one dear friend said to me once, "Joleen, I suggest you pray, pray, pray some more!"
Dear PW I say the same and I pray you can keep your head as Sunday approaches.
I wish the whole church would read this to know how hard you work to serve so many groups, Joleen. Thanks for sharing these helpful tips.
ReplyDeleteMaggie, your heart for the people God has given us to serve is so sweet. Thank you for your example to me and other PW's that know you.
ReplyDelete