Para-church ministry: Challenge 2, contentment

-

Probably the biggest challenge with this type of ministry is fund raising.  Sadly Christians (including myself) are very attached to their money (despite, well at least the last time I checked, believing all we have comes from God).  My husband has had to do A LOT of it recently and it is hard work.  Draining, humbling, awkward - people who do this type of work don't have super powers that make them find it easy to ask for money (they find it hard just like anyone would).  It can be depressing at times that finding the financial support takes hours of time away from the actual work on the uni campus.

Mind you, at the same time it is so encouraging when people do give, because they are essentially signing on to be partners in the work.  And it makes you feel like a whole lot of amazing people are caring about what you do because they've invested in the ministry financially.  There are two very distinct sides to the fundraising coin.

For me personally, I've been on a journey of struggling for contentment recently.  It is hard when the people you are asking for money from are sometimes your peers.  They went to uni and got the same qualification as you, yet their lives have taken a very different direction.  Twenty years down the track, they are financially in a much more secure place than we are.  I think when we were all in our mid-20's and we started to make these decisions about the direction of our life, the contrast just wasn't so blatantly obvious.

I've been asking myself these questions over the past few weeks.  Would I change our decisions so far?  No.  It's been a brilliant ride.  Do I want to change the direction our life is headed into in the future?  No way.  Have I seen that God has really looked after us?  Yes.  Do I think he'll care for me until the day I die?  Of course.

So why I do get worried about all this?  I do sometimes wonder if others look at us and think that because you chose a life of slight wackiness back when you were 25 that you've somehow developed abilities that make you immune to discontent and envy and covetousness.  Sadly, no.  I'm just a weak human who plays the terrible comparison game like everyone else.

I just have to keep recalibrating, keep asking myself those questions and being thankful for all the abundant riches that I do have.


Comments

Alison said…
This post is both beautifully encouraging and terrifying!
September 12, 2012 at 8:37 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Going grey at 40

-
Image
I have written about this before , but after broaching the subject on facebook a few weeks ago I've been thinking a lot about the whole colouring your hair deal.  On facebook I asked when having natural coloured hair was going to become trendy like other old fashioned things like quilting and growing your veges?  I am quite tired of how time consuming colouring my hair is and how expensive it is. A very interesting conversation resulted with a huge variety of opinions.  Many of the women said they would be going natural, but of course they aren't gray now (and are my age) so I don't think that really counts.  Until you ACTUALLY start going seriously gray/white you can't see how it impacts on the way you look.  I think it is different to be almost white (like myself) at age 40 and agreeing in principle to going natural when it happens to you in the future (when you will be a lot older than I am now!). Just quietly, I'll believe it when I see it (let me throw d
Read more

Confessions of an earl grey addict

-
Image
I have to confess in this public forum that I'm addicted to earl grey tea. I used to like the expensive stuff (Twinings) but because I drink so much of it, over the years I've had to buy the home brand version because I couldn't afford to sustain my habit. On Monday mornings I'd go to playgroup and have a cup of tea.  But one wasn't enough.  I'd have to go back for another. I'd visit a friend and enjoy the first cuppa.  But start to wonder if it too rude to ask for another, an hour into our visit. I don't have milk or sugar with it.  That just wrecks the purity of the experience.  I would branch out sometimes and enjoy Lady Grey or French Earl Grey for a treat.  But for everyday purposes my friend was the 'Earl'. But two weeks ago I went cold turkey.  I just decided that it was time to break the habit.  I have entered the world of herbal teas with all its strange flavours.  Peppermint (toothpaste dissolved in hot water).  Camomile (wee
Read more

Christmas memory creating

-
Image
This is OK I'm sure I've written about this before but every year I struggle with the pressure to be an uber mum and have some kind of Christmas craft decorating the house.  Instead I end up with a leaning Christmas tree that the kids have decorated themselves (certainly not going to make the cut for a Myer catalogue), with lights that drove the husband to distraction to untangle. There's a trend (especially in Christian circles) to create family traditions.  And I'm a total believer.  Good, healthy childhood memories and traditions have been shown to be very significant in developing high levels of security and resilience. But over time the memories/tradition trend seems to have developed into some kind of Pinterest Christmas competition.  No longer is the knitted nativity scene that Aunty Pip bought for us from the Mother's Union stall in 2003 enough.  It needs to be done by me.  And this is how my family will unite, bond and be functional. The problem i
Read more