Kathie Phillips, Author at Kathie Phillips

Praying for Romeo (or Juliet)

01/17/201401/17/2014 Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

My daughter’s 9th Grade class just finished reading Romeo & Juliet. In a recent class assignment, my daughter and her classmates were given this question: What are the top five qualities you are looking for in a ‘perfect’ mate? I’m sure getting her students to think ‘mushy’ feelings was a little challenging for my daughter’s English teacher!

They were then given a second question: What are the top five qualities you think your parents would want for your ‘perfect’ mate? Again, probably challenging for the young minds, especially since we don’t want them dating at a young age let alone thinking about marriage at age 14!

The students were then given homework: Ask your parents the following questions:

List the top five qualities that you think your son or daughter would want in a ‘perfect’ mate.
List the top five qualities you want in a ‘perfect’ mate for your son or daughter.

When my daughter got in the car after school that day, she was excited that Mom & Dad had homework. But as she described the assignment, I knew that those questions would make for excellent dinner table conversation.

Fast forward a few hours…

We’re seated at the table (my husband, our 17-yr old son, our daughter and I) and my daughter pulls out her questionnaire. Mind you, I had a slight advantage over my husband – I had a few hours to ponder the questions while my husband had 2 minutes. I wish you could have seen his facial expression. 🙂

Question #1: List the top five qualities that you think your son or daughter would want in a ‘perfect’ mate.

Hmm…what would Kennedy want in a perfect mate? Knowing our daughter’s personality, it was surprisingly easy for both my husband and I to answer this question. My husband gave his top five and I followed with mine. We know our daughter pretty well – we both scored 4 out of 5. Not bad!

Question #2: List the top five qualities you want in a ‘perfect’ mate for your son or daughter.

This question was a little more personal as this would reveal more of our heart. Again, my husband went first and I followed. What i found interesting was that my husband’s responses were more ‘selfish’ – meaning that he listed qualities for someone who HE’D like to get along with. My responses, on the other hand, were more for the man my daughter (and Lord-willing, grandchildren) would love and live with.

I love that this assignment provided us with some good table talk but it also got me thinking – How often do I pray for my children’s future spouses? Honestly, not often enough. And that was convicting for me.

As a mom, I pray many things for my children..

…that they would love God first and most

…that they would live God-honoring lives and make wise choices

…that they would have friends with similar values

…for their overall safety in an unsafe, dangerous world

…that they would treat others the way that they want to be treated

…and many other things too numerous for me to mention.

But praying for their future spouse? Not something that I regularly prayed for – until recently.

If you feel so led, do this exercise with your family and see what conversation emerges as a result. You’ll get to know your child’s heart a little better and they’ll get a peek inside of yours. And you might have a few good laughs like we did!

*Disclaimer: My daughter attends a Christian school, so that’s the angle that the assignment was taken from.

What about you? Do you pray regularly for your child’s future spouse? What do you pray for?

Dear Student Leader

01/15/201401/15/2014 Kathie Phillips 4 Comments

One of our adult leaders called me last week to let me know what a fabulous job the student leader working with her was doing. So, I wanted to acknowledge the student leader’s service with a personal note. Here’s an edited version of what I wrote:

Dear [Student Leader},

I wanted to let you know how wonderful it is to have you serve as a student leader in [Children’s Ministry]. I’ve heard how great you are with the children – how you welcome them, help them get settled, how you make them laugh and how helpful you are to [the adult in charge].

Keep up the good work. Serving as a student leader is a big responsibility. When children come to church, it is our opportunity to share God’s love with them. That opportunity is a gift from God, one that is very important and one that we must take very seriously.

You are doing a fabulous job of sharing Jesus with the [children] and we are blessed to have you on our team. You are awesome!

Love,

Miss Kathie

Do you have students serving in your ministry? How can you encourage them this week?

Simply Put: First Things First

01/13/201401/13/2014 Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

Happy New Year, friends! I hope your New Year is off to a fabulous start! My New Year started with a vacation – my first cruise – to the Caribbean. It was a long overdue vacation and I did not have any problem relaxing…the weather was warm, the food was great, the company was sweet and the views were amazing. See for yourself:

The view from my room on the cruise ship – Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean

When I returned home, there were lots of things to catch up on – opening mail, unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, email, catching up with my family (who stayed behind while I was away). “Where should I start?”, I asked myself.

Have you found yourself asking the same question? Ministry – and life in general – can be filled with long to-do lists. It can be overwhelming knowing where to start. Here are a few pointers that have helped me:

Make a to-do list. Simple, right? It is a burden lifted when I take a few minutes to simply write down all of the things swirling around in my head.

Prioritize the list. Take an honest look at what you’ve listed and determine what’s immediate, what can wait, what can be delegated, what can be eliminated.

Move forward. Work your list and make your list work for you. Jump in and start knocking things off of the list. Don’t procrastinate!

Set time limits. What can you do in an hour? What can you do in five minutes? You might be surprised how much you can knock out when you’re focused and have a time frame to work within.

Eliminate distraction. No social media. No email. Put your cell phone on vibrate. Set your desk phone to “Do not disturb.” Go to a quiet place (I love working at the library). You get the idea.

Cross things off of the list as you work. Seeing things scratched off the list can be one of your biggest motivators!

How do you keep ‘first things first’? I’d love to hear what you do!