August means the Summer holidays.
It is the only month in the year where children in compulsory education are not under compulsion to attend school. Back in the day when I was a child I didn’t really look forward that much to holidays and August was a notoriously long month. As an adult I don’t really look forward that much to holidays and August remains a notoriously long month. Maybe August is like God – it never changes. Maybe.
Obviously there is a big difference in August and Summer holidays now than it was when I was a child. Back then, the only thing I was responsible for was doing everything in my power to ward off the dangers of boredom. The children’s television programme Why Don’t You sorted the morning out, and after that I was left to the whims of the day. I didn’t have to look after food – that’s what my parents were for. I didn’t have to look after clothes – that’s why my parents were for. I didn’t even have to look after a roof over my head – that is what my Mum and my Dad were for.
Nowadays I am responsible for three beautiful daughters and overseeing their efforts to ward off the dangers of boredom. Why Don’t You is not on the screens, criminally, and so they have to find something else and then after that morning treat they don’t have to look after food, clothes or a roof over their head because that’s what the Mug is here for. (I can imagine my parents chilling and relaxing in Jamaica chuckling at the antics I am up to just keeping up with my children and thinking to themselves ‘Funny how life goes.’)
We are blessed to live in a fairly friendly neighbourhood and we’re located in a cul-de-sac meaning we don’t have to worry too much about constant traffic. There are a number of families in the immediate area and that means children. Unlike their father Deborah and Abigail are naturally outgoing and friendly children. They love nothing better than getting to know children who live around them and their parents and all that jazz. So warding off the dangers of boredom is relatively easy for them because they enjoy going out and playing with their friends.
When I look at the ease with which my two older daughters make and keep and build friends, and the various scrapes they get into, it makes me think to myself that children would probably make the best church planters! I’m not even joking about that. If this church business is about building relationships and growing together, children – a lot of children if not all – have a knack of getting on with that without carrying too much of the baggage of their parents.
Of course they reach an age where their minds are a bit more wary of others and are a lot more selective and discriminatory and eventually as prejudicial as their parents, but in that golden period of time when they haven’t learnt that yet, children make remarkably good relational types and as I understand this whole edifying business that lies at the heart of church life, they have a tendency of excelling in that area. No they are not perfect – after all, look at their parents, but it is still fascinating to watch. Not only are they good at building relationships with similarly aged folks, they can even get on with the adults (assuming the adults don’t have those Grumpy-Is-What-I-Am faces).
Studying children relating with each other has so many church and gospel off-shoots it makes me sad that we are eager to get rid of the children once ‘the worship starts’. I don’t discredit or disrespect children’s ministries and the like. The people who serve in them do brilliant jobs. I am more and more convinced, however, that as family life has to be one where the parents’ lives are lived out in front of the children to learn from them and as they engage in family matters and learn those important elements of growth together, isn’t that what the church is also meant to be like?
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
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