My Ministry Pogo Stick

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  

 --Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)

Our team retreat has been rescheduled to Friday, so my thoughts have returned to composing a succinct statement of my ministry burden or passion.  


First, I don't really even like calling it a burden, because it makes my calling sound like drudgery, like ankle weights.  I picture myself hauling a ball-and-chain through a mud bog. But when I think about my calling, I feel the opposite sensation.  I feel like I'm jumping up and down on a pogo stick.  Anyone who's attended one of the orientation weeks I've facilitated could probably say I seem like I'm jumping up and down on a pogo stick for most of the week.  I have so much fun (and coffee) I'm full of enthusiasm and energy (and caffeine).  So I think I'd really rather call it a ministry pogo stick.


So I can say that if I could state my calling, or my passion, or my pogo stick in terms of my favorite questions to ask people, it would come out something like this:


"What do you think God is trying to teach you/show you in this situation?"
or
"How is God working on you right now?"


These questions have tons of variations and always lead to other questions, but these are really the main areas that I just love to talk about/read about/think about/pray about, etc.  


What these two questions really lead to is how God is pushing the person (almost always a woman, so we'll say it's a "she") to become a little more like the person God wants her to be in whatever area He's working on--right?  So if there's some way I can ask a question or point to a certain passage of the Bible or pray for the person, in order to help the person through the process of growth, which is almost always painful (let's be honest), that's worth everything.  That is really something worth giving my life for.  


So I think what I really get excited about is helping other Christians in the process of maturing, obeying, and determining God's calling and plan for their lives.  


Reading that makes me feel like I'm jumping up and down on a pogo stick.


In His service,
Stephanie