Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Where the Heart Is

I had a very interesting meeting at church this week. It was kinda of a leaders meeting with everyone who heads up a ministry involving women so with MOPS I guess that's where I land. It was really neat to share our ministries with each other because while I had a bit of an idea of what they were doing they had no clue what MOPS even is. I was the youngest one there by like 10 years so MOPS just isn't on their radar screens.

In the course of our meeting we veered into a discussion of quality and excellence in our programs and balancing that with what is real and messy~life. While we all agreed quality is important, it needs to address the needs of the women in whatever group it is. It's so easy to get caught up in who is bringing food and did that person get a call and who is doing this and that. We so often get so full of the mechanics that we forget the heart.

We also talked about how we need to not let our particular talent or passion (single parenting, music, motherhood were the ones represented at this discussion) become the thing that is glorified. While it is definitely a God-given passion of mine for moms, that is not where the glory should lie. One woman was talking about how in her passion of music~she is starting a woman's worship night~it is easy to focus on the music because that is what moves her. Myself and another lady there~who I think is the only person who is a worse singer than me~tried to explain to her that while music is pretty, it doesn't move us in the same way. She was having trouble understanding that we weren't really interested in singing for 2 hours straight. Applying that to MOPS was a bit harder. I know that every woman does not have preschoolers, but I do get blinders about the ones who do. "It's been great for me therefore you should come too. And love it as much as I do. " They were telling me that even though I want to run through Target and hand out MOPS flies to every woman with a baby, not everyone is moved by that. It was one of those meetings where I really didn't learn anything I didn't already know in my head, but I didn't always get it in my heart. To have other women taking something that was so obvious to me (music) and pointing out the parallel in something not so obvious (MOPS) it kinda took hold a bit more.

So I am prepared to not sob over every mom who says "no" to MOPS. I think. We'll see.

5 comments:

i am not said...

Good insights for yourself! An Oprah "aha moment" perhaps?

I'm one of those moms of preschoolers who would and has said no to MOPS over and over and over again. I have a couple of friends who really get into it, but it is just not my thing. I'm happy that there is a program, though, for the moms that need it or want it and I think it is a ministry that is sorely lacking in our churches. Good for you for recognizing that and starting it up - especially since it seems like there was little support for it/you from other people (not that they didn't want it, just that they weren't interested enough to even find out what it was and help you out in some way - even to give you notes/calls of encouragement).

Are you sobbing now?

Carol said...

Heart and soul searching...love it! It's hard and sometimes requires us to change our perspective. I had a time where MOPS was my savior. I'm not kidding - I loved MOPS more than anything. Nothing could get in the way of me and a MOPS meeting. It really was my only out for a while in my life. When David (son #1) got a little older and T.J. (son #2) who was pretty much right behind him (14 1/2 months later) got a little older, life wasn't as stressful for this Mom. And so I was able to go out to things OTHER than MOPS meetings and that was nice.
Anywho...good post and love the analogies! We all must remember that anything we do should be for the Glory of God! Love that! ...Whaddayamean that not everybody would like to sing for 2 hours straight? I don't get that. I guess I have to look at the heart. ;)

Lisa @ Heaven Sent said...

Thanks for sharing -- I agree that sometimes we need to stop and refocus our efforts. It's easy to get into a "to do" mode when it comes to organizing ministry events, etc., but as long as we're looking "up," He'll remind us what it's all about.

Mommy Brain said...

Are you really telling me that there was a meeting at church and something was accomplished?! Nobody was yelling, screaming or sending out death rays through passive aggresive looks or sighs??

Sorry I guess I'm a little jaded right now. Glad you were able to gain some insight into the ministry and those who need to be ministered to.~

Anonymous said...

HI Jen, nice to 'meet' you :)
Thought I better intoduce myself before making my comment!
I LOVE MOPS! I've been in MOPS for a few years now and have been on leadership for most of it. I was tricked into leadership but it's all been good. I've been to convention twice and what I love about MOPS is the moms that come there to connect with other moms and end up connecting with Jesus. I've heard so many stories of this happening either directly or indirectly. I sometimes get a little over zealous and can't understand why every mom wouldn't want to join. I am however getting to a stage where I know that when it's time to move on I'll be ready. The ministry of MOPS is such a blessing and a great outreach.