Playtime

Puppet: (noun) a model of a person or animal which can be moved either by strings or a hand inside it.
- Oxford Paperback Dictionary & Thesaurus

"...that can be moved..."

Who? The puppet only...?

I beg to differ.

Puppets move humans. Of all ages. Don't believe me? Just make sure you attend whenever you see a Puppet Festival being advertised in your area or at your local church.

The recent Puppet Festival at our church had a profound impact on me...a human. The idea was just to go and learn and maybe "fun-up" up the way we do things at our children's church. What I got though, is so much more than just fun. It was a calling...even if it was only to wake me up! When I say that I ended up in the top 5 puppeteers for the weekend, it's not to brag, but to try and get it through to my own mind that it was indeed the first time that I had ever set hand inside a puppet...ever. Having one of the most skillful puppeteers in our children's church say to you at the end of it all, "Didn't I tell you you were good??"...that's awesome. Having God ask you a week afterwards what you want to do with this newfound talent...that's humbling...and scary...

There's so much more to Children's Church/Ministry that meets the eye. Signing up to volunteer for it shouldn't just be to fill up a Sunday morning or impress people at church. It should come from a place of genuinely wanting to impact and change the lives of little people. And with puppets, the job's halfway done.

During the festival, I found myself (more than once...) quite emotional during skits, as the messages being conveyed unexpectedly impacted on me. They made me realize anew the sincerity of God's Love. They made me realize anew the reason why I signed up as volunteer at our Children's Church. They made me realize anew that God is indeed a God of second chances, and that He has indeed started to give me back a childhood not completely had. If puppets had such a restorative impact on me, how much more wouldn't it impact on little people in our Children's Church...?

So I said to God that I would love to see a Puppet Ministry borne at our Children's Church. We allready have quite a few puppets, we certainly have the talent, and I am sure we could find the time. However, I also realized that in the Bigger Scheme of Things, we are but Puppets on the Hand of a Master Puppeteer. Ultimately He makes the decision(s) that fall within His will and path for our lives...much like a puppeteer decides what the puppet does or says, or even where the puppet enters and exits the stage.

So, in the meantime I am enjoying my playtime at Children's Church. A second chance at being a child. Uninhibited and full of "God's Love".