Mrs Motivation?

Work poses new challenges everyday, It's almost tiring really. I often feel out of my depth and brief thoughts run through my head of running away and finding a quiet corner to hide away in.

However, I can't, I must keep going.

This particular challenge comes after some meetings in work. I work with some challenging young people. Some because their behavior is difficult, and others because they are the most apathetic people I think I have met. It's heart-breaking to see young people uninspired, with no aspirations who just exist. Funnily enough it is these young people I find the most challenging. How on earth do you motivate an apathetic young person? I feel at the moment its quite impossible.

How do you get them into stuff, how do you get them realising what they are good at, how do you get them excited by life? How do you inspire, when someone appears to be happy withering away in unrealised potential, dieing in apathy.

Of course, I'm not saying that unless they are aspiring to be a doctor or a [insert typically successful job here] I'm talking about them feeling like they have purpose, and something to offer the world, gifts and talents they are necessarily career makers, but they help to give direction and hope.

I know that there's no clean cut answer, all young people are different and so adding that factor to the pot makes my dilemma even more difficult. I don't think I'm doing a very good job of it at the moment. I am not Mrs Motivation, although, I'm not sure I'm meant to be.

Huh?

Rusty old metal springs that don't belong in the middle of the countryside.

Which am I the springs or the countryside?

What am I doing? Why am I doing it?

Work's hard. It's making life hard.



I know I'm being a drama queen. I just feel frustated and a little bit sad.

It's just a season. It'll pass....

Mrs

So, a lot has happened in the last year or so. I found myself a handsom young man and ended up getting married.

I've nearly been married six months now and it's lovely. We have a lot of fun, and its great living in the same house and not having to leave each other at the end of the day.

We both have youth work jobs in Bradford and live and work on a council estate, which has its ups and downs. We have our own home, which feels like a haven against rough days at work. So life is pretty good, and I'm not sure what I'd do now without Angelo for support.

Our next plan is to open a coffee shop together, where we'll serve lovely affordable coffee and home made cakes and snacks made from local or fair trade produce. We want to open our coffee shop up for training with young people on the fringe of our community and help them gain experience in the hospitality business.

Babies also fit somewhere into the picture, but where we don't quite know. I guess we just need to pray and trust that God will bring the right opportunities at the right time, and give us the skills we need to help things happen.

Blah blah blah...that's enough of that...

REset yourSELF

We are creatures of habit.
Of routine.
We are all in our own groove.
So try new.
Try different. Try crazy. Try unexpected.
Like punk? Try opera.
Wear black? Try white.
Love bubbles? Try still.
Speak Spanish? Learn Chinese.
Love to ride? Try running.
Always grumpy? Try happy.
Like science fiction? Try romance.
Never cook? Bake some bread.
Forever cynical? Try love. Try Trust. Try hope.
Take a different route to work.
Say yes when you mean no.
Wear your watch on the other hand.

Leave the comfort zone.

http://www.howies.co.uk/content.php?xId=75&xPg=1

So, What is it about?

Youth Work.

It's a tricky one. People do it for different reasons, which it's inevitable, I guess. The other day we were sharing with a colleague about how we have quite a few young people starting to attend church, through their own choice. We are wondering how best to support them in their exploration of Christianity. At this news our colleague became quite excited, and rightly so, it is good to see young people exploring their spirituality. However, out of this a comment emerged "that's what its about, that's why we do it." Now, I'm sure he didn't mean it in a narrow sense (being that youth work is done with the sole aims of getting young people into church, and converting them to Christianity), However, understanding this comment in it's narrow sense made me feel uncomfortable. It made me question. If I don't do youth work for that reason, why do I do it?

Firstly, I guess my priority is not to convert young people to anything in particular, but to encourage informed and critical exploration into every aspect of their lives including spirituality. I want young people to learn about themselves and understand what makes them tick. However, you cant force this.

It gets me excited to think that I could one day practice a youth work that results in a young person growing and developing new skills, confidence, and going on to achieve things they never thought they could. Don't get me wrong, its great when a young person becomes a Christian, but it just doesn't get the that excited. I understand that Christians are concerned with the 'eternal perspective', but its not just eternity that we are working with. We are working with young people with real issues, real needs, right now. And actually, Christianity doesn't claim to be the answer to those immediate needs. (If you're hungry becoming a Christian might satisfy your spiritual hunger, but what about your physical one? Its not gonna stop you starving to death is it?) Being a christian doesn't necessarily make you're life easier.

I understand that its important that we all have different passions, different motivations for doing what we do. AND I guess that in my work with young people I perhaps need to have a greater appreciation for the 'eternal perspective' However, for those people who are doing youth work to make Christians, it is equally important for them to understand that its not just about what happens after we die, that young people, and people in general have this life to live and have to somehow make sense of it. Therefore perhaps through giving people the opportunity to make sense of this life and their experiences, we give them space to question further into the realms of spirituality.

CREAtive PRAYing

engagement and exploration in prayer.

EGGs: Prayer focusing on New life, or New Beginnings.

• Give everyone an egg (not hard boiled or anything), and a permanent marker.

• Explain to the group that they are invited to spend some time thinking about what is new in their life, who is new etc...

• As they think of those things, they write or draw them on their egg.

• Give them time and space to do that.

• At the end, have people thank God for one or two things on their egg, if they are comfortable. After everyone has finished praying explain to the group that they can take their egg home and make it into something (i.e: pancakes, Yorkshire pudding, a cake). Those things that are new often help to shape and change us, they become an essential part of us.

JumP

Jump [juhmp]

1. to spring clear of the ground or other support by a sudden muscular effort.

2. to rise suddenly or quickly.


Jumping is the best thing. It makes me feel, just for a second, like I'm bigger. It makes me feel like, I donno, it just makes me feel great. I really should do it more often.

When you jumP, like, really jumP it can make you feel so strong. But at the same time it can make you feel really little. Because however hard you try to reach the sky, or the top of that tree, or the height of that really tall person you can never quite do it. Thats no reason not to jumP though, is it...