Movie Afternoon….
3 weeks seems a long time to go without writing. Hmm. What happened? Ah yes, the husbandface is on holiday, we’ve jaunted around the country a bit visiting friends and family. We’ve attempted to entertain our small son for a few days inbetween and been visited by some people. More on that in another post. For now it’s the annual ‘we’ve been on camp’ post.
If you’ve hung around these parts for a while you’ll be aware that over the last 3 years, since marrying said husbandface, I’ve had to come to terms with life on ‘camp’. For the uninitiated amongst you please do read these posts: My first ‘camp’, ‘No post-camp blues’ and ‘Last year’s camp experience’, they will explain that I’m not actually camping, that I never thought this day would come and that I actually enjoy these strange weeks of the year now.
Once more we’ve been leading a team of assistant leaders in the ways of washing up, helping out with games the members take part in and exploring more of the wonders of the Bible and our God together. The smallest member of Team Cunningham has been aiding us by providing cute smiles, excellent entertainment skills and giving us an extra timetable to juggle alongside an already busy schedule. It’s been an interesting week.
We faced a few challenges along the way with a bigger, more diverse team than normal. Having the small one around always makes me feel like I’ve lost half my brain as any conversation will be undertaken with one eye fixed on what tiny piece of rubbish he’s decided to eat next. Not the most ideal way to get to know people well. He also managed to coincide all his nap times and bedtimes with washing up times, which has meant I had less time to bond with the team over dishwashing.
Despite all that we enjoyed not having to think of what to do next to ensure the small one didn’t get bored and frustrated, we really loved welcoming the team into our family life and we saw God work in people’s lives as we fought to love each other well. Thankfully our lovely friend Lou looked after the boy in Bible Study times and in the evening we’ve been staying up beyond 8.30pm to hang out and chat with people. (we are crazy wild I know…) It’s been good to feel the underused parts of my brain creak into action again.
The benefit of constant sleep deprivation means I don’t feel as knackered as usual, mainly because ‘camp’ wasn’t all that more tiring than real life at the moment, we just go to bed slightly later. I had more naps than at home and it was great to have onsite constant entertainment for the boy.
It was another week of trying to remember my identity lies in God, not in ministry I used to do or even in being sonface’s Mum, those things inevitably make up part of my identity but the most important thing about me is that I’m a dearly loved child of God. I struggled as usual to remember that, I wrestled with wanting to go back into a past life and I found contentment in this life God has called me to right now. I want to trust him with my future, with his grace and timing in using me to help others know more of him, I want to be at peace in my job right now of loving our beautiful son. I want to be made useable. I want to love my Father and friend more and more and know his love for me and this world more. That’s some good stuff to come back from ‘camp’ with.
The Long Walk Home 