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.