Serving our children can bring great joy and renewal of our own faith! But let's be real, it can come with many challenges as we interact with the children, the parents, and with our fellow servants! It is difficult for us to avoid seeing differences of opinion or directive interactions as negative, driving conflict. Fostering the attitude of gratitude and remembering that we are all working towards the same goal goes a long way towards helping us keep perspective!

Examining Jesus' interactions with people during his ministry affirms our call to service with love and patience. Jesus regularly challenged people to go above and beyond in their faith, to be a better version of themselves. But not in anger, most often with gentleness, patience, and love. When people talked about him, plotted against him, betrayed him and spat in his face, sometimes he spoke a word of truth, other times he slipped away quietly. In the end, he stood silent knowing his Father’s will was best served by simply finishing the job for which he was sent.

How did Jesus keep his calm disposition? The gospels, primarily Mark, include many references to Jesus separating himself to pray. Sometimes he would pray all night! Clearly this grounded him in his relationship with his Father, strengthened him for his journey, and renewed him for his ministry! What would his ministry have been like if he had not kept in constant contact with his Father?