Gearing up for the taxi-ing, organisation, motivational roles my husband and I play - not only to our churches, but also for our kids!!!
This afternoon I leave for Lyon to continue with my Christian Counselling course. The topic is 'Sexual Abuse' - how to recognize the signs, describing the victim and the perpetrator, the psychological processes, how to accompany the victims in particular. I think it's going to be quite heavy going given the damage sexual abuse causes.
My husband will manage family life until I return Saturday evening. He'll have his Sunday commitments to prepare as well.
Sunday is a big day - Christmas choir rehearsals (I'm not really a highly qualified musician, but I know how to organize and lead, so it will be a group effort!), church service (thankfully, I don't have any Sunday School teaching this week), then a quick lunch before doing the final session of Neil Anderson's 'Freedom in Christ' course with a young lady. Followed by a dance rehearsal for our girls for the Christmas presentation and a play rehearsal for our young people until 7pmish. Pascal and I keep our eyes on things but are not the people in charge.
Home to eat and try and spend time 'en famille'; do the ironing so Luc goes back to boarding school with a clean kit; check homework, notices, etc for school then finally off to bed. The next morning Pascal takes Luc back to his school leaving at 6:45 am!
That's the busyness side. But behind all this is the desire to help people go further with the Lord. Discipling and mentoring have become our leitmotifs this year, but it takes time and energy before people are able to detach themselves from our accompaniment. We are conscious of wanting to accompany our own children as well, so need to make time for them.
We are particularly concerned by a certain passivity in our country parish. We would so like them to be more stimulated to reach out in their community. After 3 years here, we are still negotiating the cultural barriers to creating a more vibrant, Spirit-filled community. (I had used the words 'Christ-centred' but I think it is the case, but there isn't the responsiveness.)
As the Aussies say: ,"Havagudweegend!,"
May the Lord be your motivation and inspiration this weekend.
