Kids!

There's a part of me that knows I went into ministry to save myself. After all, if I am a minister, I get to go to the head of the line at the pearly gates, don't I?

There's a part of me that knows I went into ministry to save the world. It's a messy job, but somebody has to do it, and who better than someone who is on God's "side?"

There's a part of me that knows I went into ministry to save my denomination. The only place in a bigger mess than the world is a church denomination, and since the whole structure of redemption would crumble without denominations, it's an important job.

There's a part of me that knows I went into ministry to save a church - whichever one I am serving at any particular time. After all, there are always people who need to be healed, problems that need to be solved, budgets that need to be met. And who better to tackle these than an ordained minister?

But now, now, all of me knows that I'm in ministry for the kids. The kids who ask all the questions adults think are too "silly" but are at the heart of the human condition. Like Dennis the Menace yesterday, who asked, "If we're made out of dust, how's come we don't turn to mud when it rains?" kids are willing to put the pastor on the spot with just the right question at the most inconvenient moment.

And kids are willing to learn. Like the sower in Jesus' parable, every pastor learns that kids are the good soil - the place where the seeds of kindness, of justice, of hope, of compassion can be planted; and where they will blossom and flourish - in a year, in 10 years, in a lifetime - but the seeds do not lie fallow in kids.

And kids model the best attributes of God. They are willing to forgive in the heat of the moment, not waiting until the other person is frozen by the cold shoulder of hurt and rejection. They are willing to run up and hug, when you least expect it and most need it. They are willing to love - unconditionally, unsparingly, unfailingly, for all eternity.

Thank God for the kids!

(c) 2005 Thom M. Shuman