a good day...

the difference between a good ministry day and a hard ministry day is nearly indescribable. after last sunday, i was discouraged, frustrated, and questioning my capability to handle the task i've been given. but today went so differently.

the first major difference i saw was the result of a prayer i prayed this morning. having run out of ways to pray that God would just help the kids to be well behaved, i changed it up and asked for anointing. instead of His hand on them to manage their behavior, i asked for His hand on us - that the words we say might carry an impact, that we might be worth paying attention to. and you know what? it worked. behavior problems were minimal, and what's more: the kids got it. they heard the lesson. they responded to it. they communicated their understanding of it.

and that makes me one very happy girl.

the second difference was a new discipline technique i've decided to try. i've watched a few SuperNanny episodes (mostly out of morbid curiosity, i admit), and something i've always found interesting is her use of a "Naughty Chair", a specific time-out location for a child to have a chance to pull himself together. i wanted to use a similar concept, but needed to put a more positive spin on it. and that birthed the God Chair.

the God Chair is where you go when you need a little time to yourself to think about what just happened, talk to God, ask forgiveness and pull yourself together before you rejoin the group. so i introduced this to the kids, explained that they might choose to sit in this chair themselves, or that a teacher might ask them to sit in this chair if they felt it was necessary. and no one needed to sit in the God Chair today. i honestly believe that their understanding of the immediate consequence was a major factor in the exceptionally good behavior.

i really wanted to get some camera-time in this weekend, but it just didn't happen. lack of time, lack of muse. oh well. can't rush creativity. i did, however, get a little scrapbooking time in. not much, but enough to expend some energy and have some quality me-time. and you know what? it felt great.