Finding joy in the marking

From October to December, our students are on block placement, where they work in a church in their diocese.  When they return to campus in January, they must write a fieldwork report that describes what they did, the challenges they found, recommended solutions, and a theological reflection.  I did it when I was a student.

While reading one student’s draft field work report, I found this sentence:  “Spiritual preparation of my heart will be very important in my ministry to God’s people.”  Oh my, yes!  My heart is soaring.  I put two stars next to this sentence, underlined it, and wrote that I was rejoicing over reading that sentence.

This is something that I try to reiterate to my students as often as possible... that God is after our hearts, in everything we do.  Preaching, teaching, discipleship, leadership, pastoral care... all is of that is good, and doing it well is great, but it is how we open our hearts to the Lord that will affect our ministries the most.

Reading this is also a good reminder to me.  It’s been a rough start to the semester, and I’ve just wanted to shut down and just survive until mid-April.  However, that wouldn’t allow for “spiritual preparation of my heart,” and would certainly have a negative impact on my ministry to God’s people, which I do not want.  So I’m trying to see what it is the Lord is preparing.