ordinary...
Anyone who knows my girl will agree that along with being lovely, sweet, talented & shy, she can also be a bit of an airhead. Like Barbie the cheerleader, not Barbie the doctor. John has long encouraged her to implement the 10- second rule: 10 more seconds in the think- about- it -chamber before birthing something duh-worthy from her Mary Kay lips.
Well last night she asked me something that wasn't duh-worthy and actually was pretty insightful. She asked if it was "okay" for her to be a hair stylist, if I thought God wanted her to do this since it was something she's always been good at and has always enjoyed. She had been thinking all week about something she heard someone recently say, about lay positions being "ordinary" and that people called to be ordained into ministry, especially youth ministry, were up a rung or two on the spiritual ladder. [That's a huge paraphrase, but the gist of her question.] In context, I'm sure the statement was only meant to add meaning and privilege to the calling of youth ministry, and to acknowledge the serious and challenging responsibility to mold and mature young people at a most crucial time in their development which I completely agree with and not intended to offend anyone, but it did, in her mind, contradict what I have come to believe and taught her: that we are all ministers, lay or otherwise, and we all are called. Set apart. His. And Ryan, it doesn't matter who signs the paycheck :)
It took a few years, but with perseverance and education, I was able to make the transition from a mindset of paid ministry vs. the rest of us, to shared ministry, including everything from office duties, building maintenance etc. to preaching & teaching, regardless of the salary involved. Careful use of language and subtle changes in titles were deliberately thought about in an effort to reinforce a theology more biblical and more authentic to what Christ modeled. And that's what I have taught Shawna. That's what I told her when she struggled with choosing Culver over Lincoln. And what I reiterated last night.
In the last few months of school, Shawna was able to share her faith with another girl or two. One actually started coming to fuel and was baptized last Sunday. If that isn't ministry of the unordinary kind, I don't know what is. There are divine moments waiting for her in a salon station that no one else will be allowed to have. Ones planned just for her. What a cool thing to silently pray over someone who just shared a bad week in the making while holding their head in her hands? Or to be able to send someone out with more hope and encouragement than they had when they first sat down. To be perhaps the only person who had actually listened to them in weeks. And honestly, giving pedicures is about as servant like as it gets from her perspective, even if she gets paid for it.
So, I told her to enjoy this decision. I told her that ministry is or should be the living of this ordinary life in such a way that we intentionally seek God's presence and activity wherever we go, whatever career we choose, and that our divine encounters or sacred moments along the way will transform it all into the unordinary beauty that is our God in process. These doubts of hers were more than familiar to me. I chose QU. But I tell you what, it might say "Special K-12/Music" on my piece of paper buried somewhere in the archives of my past, but it felt like youth ministry in my heart.
Blessings Shawna Lynn. Not bad for a Barbie...
Well last night she asked me something that wasn't duh-worthy and actually was pretty insightful. She asked if it was "okay" for her to be a hair stylist, if I thought God wanted her to do this since it was something she's always been good at and has always enjoyed. She had been thinking all week about something she heard someone recently say, about lay positions being "ordinary" and that people called to be ordained into ministry, especially youth ministry, were up a rung or two on the spiritual ladder. [That's a huge paraphrase, but the gist of her question.] In context, I'm sure the statement was only meant to add meaning and privilege to the calling of youth ministry, and to acknowledge the serious and challenging responsibility to mold and mature young people at a most crucial time in their development which I completely agree with and not intended to offend anyone, but it did, in her mind, contradict what I have come to believe and taught her: that we are all ministers, lay or otherwise, and we all are called. Set apart. His. And Ryan, it doesn't matter who signs the paycheck :)
It took a few years, but with perseverance and education, I was able to make the transition from a mindset of paid ministry vs. the rest of us, to shared ministry, including everything from office duties, building maintenance etc. to preaching & teaching, regardless of the salary involved. Careful use of language and subtle changes in titles were deliberately thought about in an effort to reinforce a theology more biblical and more authentic to what Christ modeled. And that's what I have taught Shawna. That's what I told her when she struggled with choosing Culver over Lincoln. And what I reiterated last night.
In the last few months of school, Shawna was able to share her faith with another girl or two. One actually started coming to fuel and was baptized last Sunday. If that isn't ministry of the unordinary kind, I don't know what is. There are divine moments waiting for her in a salon station that no one else will be allowed to have. Ones planned just for her. What a cool thing to silently pray over someone who just shared a bad week in the making while holding their head in her hands? Or to be able to send someone out with more hope and encouragement than they had when they first sat down. To be perhaps the only person who had actually listened to them in weeks. And honestly, giving pedicures is about as servant like as it gets from her perspective, even if she gets paid for it.
So, I told her to enjoy this decision. I told her that ministry is or should be the living of this ordinary life in such a way that we intentionally seek God's presence and activity wherever we go, whatever career we choose, and that our divine encounters or sacred moments along the way will transform it all into the unordinary beauty that is our God in process. These doubts of hers were more than familiar to me. I chose QU. But I tell you what, it might say "Special K-12/Music" on my piece of paper buried somewhere in the archives of my past, but it felt like youth ministry in my heart.
Blessings Shawna Lynn. Not bad for a Barbie...
posted by ret at 9:56 AM
2 Comments:
Amen! Preach it sistah! Nail on the head once again if I may say so myself (copygirl minister turned sales professional minister ;). It is amazing what God does with our little talents and small gifts when we are placed back in the incredible hands that created us.
Yes, it's that simple Shawna...that simple.
I think you just inspired me to become a cosmetologist! You made it sound so beautiful and truthfully I never looked at it like that before...you go Shawna Lynn!!
I know I've found the best hairstylist ever. She's graceful, patient, beautiful and does everything with excellence...thankful to have her in the family! :) God is definitely going to continue to use her work as ministry.
Post a Comment
<< Home