Managing the M's

Welcome to Managing the M's

What is Managing the M's about? I am so glad you asked!

Several years ago I took some classes through Eagle Christian College. The teachings and resources I received in this program were phenomenal and life changing.

We had a huge reading list. Many of the books I read, I still have and reference today. There were also workbooks. Many of the books and workbooks were written by an amazing man of God, Dr. Bill Hamon. One of these workbooks was titled, "The Ten M's for Maturing and Maintaining Ministry". Here is a link I found that shows "The 10 M's".

I have been feeling a pressing for years that I was supposed to write. I didn't know what, but the Lord was giving me all kinds of ideas. I put it all on the proverbial shelf and set it aside. Over the last year this pressing has come back. It was time to take it back off the shelf and do something with all that Jesus has been talking to me about.

Back when I was an assistant pre-school teacher, Jesus started talking to me about "The 10 M's". He started to remind me of the teaching and the prophetic words I had received. It was time.

Recently our church did a book study on "Imagine Big" by Terri Savelle Foy. I have to be completely honest. I so struggled with this book. I tend to be a naturally self motivated person. Let me clarify...I tend to be a very selfish person. This really played out in the first 10 years of my marriage. It was a huge source of contention with my husband. You may be thinking, "No way". Oh, my friends...Yes way!!

 The premise of "Imagine Big" is to focus on the desires of your heart. For me this was a huge step backwards. Now, she doesn't necessarily talk about materialistic desires, but there are components to that thought process. I was about halfway through the book, struggling and grumbling, and then Jesus began to talk to me. And He had a lot to say.

It was time for me to let some strongholds go in my life. Without going into a huge amount of detail, I needed to fast some life-draining activities from my life. Actually, to be specific, I needed to fast some things that were feeding my flesh. Now, we are not supposed to talk about it when we are fasting, so I will skip some of the details, but I really felt that I needed to lay these items at Jesus feet and walk away from them for the period of 1 year. One of these items was food. I will talk more about this in another post, because I have been on an additional journey to make a significant life-style change with my health.

After starting this fast I felt this immense pressure to start pouring out all that has been percolating within me. Again, it was time. I created this blog over a year ago. And there it sat. Just waiting. For me.

How does all of this come together with the M's? These M's that I wanted to focus on are the pieces and parts of what makes us into who we are - who I am. They are the second hand on our ticking clocks.

• Marriage - Always important, often sacrificed.
• Motherhood - This is where my heart is.
• Meals - So many options, so little time.
• Moods - Hmm...
• Minutes - Every single one counts.
• Mind - What is that little voice in your head telling you?
• Ministry - What is the calling on your life?
• Money - My Mount Everest.
• Maidenhood - I am woman, hear me roar...
• Manners & Gratitude - We have lost the art of manners somewhere and we can not be thankful enough.
• Mission - Why are you doing what you are doing?
• Message - What are we saying? What do we represent?
• Maid of the Manner - Okay, look. Finding a M for home was a struggle. Just go with it. ;)
• Muscle - Yeah, and this is health. Again with the M words...

These are my M's. This is my Kung Fu and it is strong. I am sure there are more out there, but this is where I am at so far.

Let me leave you with this final thought. Recently I became the parenting class instructor for a wonderful program called C.A.R.E.-F.I.T.. I teach classes for 3 different age groups: Infant, 1234, and 5-12. Many times the people taking my classes are required to take them. In other words, they have to be there. As you can imagine, that can many times lead to dry teaching ground. I start out each class by saying the same thing: you will get out of this class what you put into it. I tell all my students that we should never stop or turn away from the opportunity to learn. There is always opportunity for improvement. Why do I read so many parenting and marriage books? Because I can stand to improve in both of those areas. There is always room for improvement!

All of these M's are areas where I continuously need improvement. They are also areas where I need to be sensitive to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, guiding my steps and my actions.

Where are the area's that you may need some improvement? What are your M's?