31 Days of Writing: The Most Important Work

Some of you may know that I am the director of a children's ministry that partners one church with an elementary school in the area and allows trained & screened adults to meet with a child, that they have been carefully matched with, for one hour a week during the school year. 

I have been working with this ministry for four years now and I am still surprised by so many things about it. 

I am continually surprised that busy adults choose to be a part of our program; that they take time out of their busy weeks to leave work early, drive across town and miss time with their own families to sit in a classroom painting or reading with a child. I don't thank them enough. 

I continue to be surprised that our host teacher thanks me every week. That at the end of every email she sends me, she never neglects to tell me what a blessing this program is to the kids & to the teachers that work with them. 

I continue to be surprised that there is always a list of kids that need a mentor. That despite the fact we've been doing this for four years, the list isn't getting shorter. That the list is, in fact, getting longer. 

I continue to be surprised by things some of these children have to endure. No matter how much I know, I'm still surprised by the fact that I will never ever fully understand what it is like to be them. I hope I never stop being surprised by this. I hope I am always shocked & heart-broken, especially if they can't be because they've never known anything different. 

I need God to break my heart over this daily and to fill me with more than enough joy to share. I need to never be complacent about this job, because it might be the most important job I've ever had.