good food = good energy

image from anthropologie.com

i do a lot of work during the day and depending on the day, i sometimes feel drained of all energy at the end of the day.

i’ve been trying to pay attention to the things that give me energy, and not surprisingly i’ve noticed that the main contributor to how i feel throughout a day is linked to what i eat. here are a few things that i try to eat as often as i can in order to keep my energy high:

i try to pack my breakfast and lunch with fruits and vegetables; specifically blueberries, tangerines, pears, red-green-yellow-orange peppers (i’ve never met a pepper i didn’t like), snap peas, tomatoes and raw green beans. i’m not sure why, but these specific fruits and veggies give me great amounts of energy and make me feel great.

since my husband has a gluten allergy, we have significantly cut back on the amount of gluten that we have in the house. even though i’m not allergic, i notice that i have more energy when i’m eating less gluten. on work days i try to be mindful of how much gluten i’m eating. of course, there are some things that should never be avoided such as a lou malnati’s pizza or a portillo’s italian beef sandwich but on regular weekdays i try to eat about 75% gluten free.

i also like to eat an energy bar in the afternoon for an extra boost of nutrients. my favorites are chocolate chip clif z bars. and of course, i pay attention to how much water i’m drinking. if i’m feeling sluggish in the afternoon and need a quick boost of energy, i immediately drink a full bottle of water.

these are a few things that work for me. what about you?

what do you eat in order to maintain your energy throughout the day?

friday reflections: women in church leadership

i care a lot about empowering women to use their full leadership gift for the purpose of building and shepherding the church. and would love to engage more on the topic with you – if you are a woman who needs encouragement, or love, or to more fully understand your gift, let me know!

amy@lemonlimekids.com | twitter: @adolan | leave a comment on this blog post

happy friday!

milestones

it’s been quite a week of milestones in our family.

this weekend we celebrated our neice’s first birthday, my 10 year college reunion, and this coming weekend we will celebrate big birthdays for both my mom and my grandmother.

in the midst of all of the celebrating, and the reminiscing, and the story-telling, and the just being together with family and friends – i’ve been thinking about the importance of celebrating milestones.

wikipedia says this about milestones: “milestones are constructed to provide reference points along the road. this can be used to reassure travellers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either distance travelled or the remaining distance to a destination.”

whether celebrating milestones with family, or old friends, or staff members, or volunteer teammates – milestones give us permission to pause and say to each other:

we are in this together | we care for and value each other | our work has been significant | we are moving in the right direction | we look forward to the future

whether celebrating a big birthday or an anniversary at work, or simply that you made it through another day of life, take a moment today to pause and reflect on your milestone and what it has meant and will mean in your life.

orange-ology

i’m thrilled to be a part of the think orange group blog project organized by henry zonio at elemental children’s ministry.

chapter 1: orange-ology

from the first page of this book, it’s clear to the reader that author reggie joiner is passionate about one thing: creating a synergistic approach to influencing faith in the next generation. he writes that both the church and the family are at a crossroads. and that it’s time for a radical change. a new approach. a new mindset. and a new partnership.

his solution: think orange – connecting the church and home.

in this first chapter, reggie joiner paints a picture for the importance of the color orange: the color created when red and yellow (two primary colors) combine efforts. he writes about the importance of creating a third color or a third option, and that most oftentimes, positive change and innovation result when two combined influences merge together.

the two combined influences represent the church and home, and the potential greater impact on the next generation’s faith when the two entities merge efforts rather than continuing to do their own good but separate work. reggie describes the merging this way, “both groups are simultaneously hard at work to build faith in children, but the problem is that they are not working in sync. working on the same thing at the same time is not as effective as working on the same thing at the same time with the same strategy.” (p.24)

even though i was already rather familiar with the think orange concept before reading the book, i really enjoyed reading this first chapter as a reminder that something definitely needs to change. our children and youth continue to leave the church and at times even abandon their faith. i care too much about the spiritual formation of children to be ok with these facts – and i appreciate reggie’s heart and tireless work to change this.

i have always wondered if there could be room for more than 2 combined influences working together for a child’s faith. in my neighborhood, children spend more time at school and participating in sports than attending church and even being at home with their families. i’ve wondered what a partnership with school teachers and athletic coaches along with parents and sunday school teachers would look like – all of a child’s influences working together for the wholistic development of that child. i imagine great things might happen!

now it’s your turn:

1. what comes to mind when you think of the color orange?

2. what might a first step toward a third approach (merging church and home strategies) look like in your church?

*as extra incentive for encouraging dialogue in this blog project – henry is offering a free registration to the orange conference in april. in order to qualify to win, comment on the posts during this project. each day that you participate is an entry, so the more days you participate the more entries you get. at the end of this blogging project, a winner will be randomly selected.

friday reflections

i’m in love with a strategic plan

image from churchofthecustomer.com

i’ve always been a very big fan of authors jackie huba and ben mcconnell. their book “creating customer evangelists: how your loyal customers become a volunteer sales force” consistently serves as a reminder for me on how to interact with volunteers.

recently ben wrote a blog post on how to create a 1 page strategic plan. he writes: ”a strategic plan has a better chance of being successful when it’s easy to understand, easy to find, and easy to share.

that’s why after we create longer-form strategy documents for social media or customer evangelism planning, we convert them into 1-page infographics. the word-driven complexity of a strategic plan is easier to comprehend when it’s displayed graphically. we’ve found the one-pager to be a convenient way to keep everyone in a group or a team on the same page — literally and figuratively.”

fantastic! i love it! what if after we created our full ministry strategic plans, we converted them into 1 page documents that could be posted in classrooms, included in volunteer handbooks, emailed to parents, and distributed to potential staff members.

the possibilities are endless. and i’m in love. this is fantastic.

i think i might spend the day retro-fitting every strategic plan i’ve ever done – and just for practice converting them into these one page visual works of art. wow. i’m a nerd.

we need you! ivy beckwith book blog tour

i recently mentioned that i was especially excited to read ivy beckwith’s new book, formational children’s ministry. my sweet husband bought me the book for christmas and now that i’ve completed it – i only want to discuss it with every children’s leader that i know (and even those i don’t know!).

similar to her first book postmodern children’s ministry ivy once again encourages and gently challenges all of us to consider a new approach – a formational approach to inspiring faith in our children.

i believe this book is important and even crucial for all of us considering the future of children in the church.

and that’s why in late february, together with ivy and baker bookswe’ll be hosting a book blog tour - so that you can hear from various children’s ministry professionals on their opinions and practical applications of the book.

our participant list is almost complete – but we are looking for 2 additional children’s ministry bloggers who would be interested in reviewing the book and participating in the blog tour.

if you are interested:

leave a comment | email me: amy@lemonlimekids.com | tweet me @adolan

be eccentric! (or weird)

it recently occurred to me that over the years i’ve collected a rather diverse group of children’s ministry friends.

i love what’s going on at joel osteen’s church and i’m excited about what’s happening within the emergent church movement.

i’m crazy about the local neighborhood church and yet a lot of my children’s ministry experience comes from working at large churches like willow creek and the chapel.

i’m on the children’s ministry committee at my presbyterian church and at the same time i’m consulting several multi-site churches.

i think maybe i’m eccentric. or weird. or confused.

let’s go with unique!

but, i do have a point: over the years, i’ve collected ministry friends from various backgrounds who challenge, inspire and refine my ministry beliefs and practices.

and today i’m encouraging you to be eccentric. or weird. or unique! and to seek out people to speak into your life who you normally wouldn’t think of – and to work hard to be open to a variety of voices.

because we all have a whole lot to learn from each other.

hope for haiti orphans

my friend mark miller is leading the charge in an effort to help orphans who have been affected by the earthquake in haiti.

from mark’s blog:

“when we heard about the estimates of 50,000-250,000 orphans in haiti BEFORE the earthquake coupled with the tiny office who were handling the cases had been destroyed, we knew something had to be done. orphans are the “least of these,” the children without a family looking out for them, the most vulnerable. and unfortunately, in catastrophes like these, they are the prey for those looking to exploit the crisis. the human traffickers move in and the orphans, especially in chaotic crisis, just disappear.”

as a children’s leader, i consider myself a protector and defender of all children, as i know so many of you do. now is the time for us to lead well and protect these children

mark is asking for complete humanitarian parole for ANY orphan who was in an orphanage when the quake hit. they should not be punished, left behind, or ignored simply because they had not yet been referred.

this is what we can do:

call our senators and congressional representatives. if you’ve never called them, call them now. be polite, but ask the pointed question:

“does my senator/representative support extending humanitarian parole to the orphans of haiti who have not yet been matched with families?” tell them that we cannot leave these children behind. they are the most vulnerable of the haitian people.

be polite but be persistent. if the person answering doesn’t know, ask for someone to call you back.

find and call your U.S. Senator

find and call your U.S. Representative

for regular updates: join the facebook group or visit randy bohlender’s blog

prayer for today

it’s been a busy week. busier than normal. i’m not sure how it happened. but it definitely happened. and with a vengeance. this week has been stuffed full of meetings, phone calls, writing, editing and strategizing. many times during this week – i wasn’t sure exactly how everything was going to work out. it seemed liked every time i crossed something off my to-do list, 10 more urgent action items suddenly appeared. can you relate?

and today will be no different. i jam packed this day with more work than it was meant to hold.

but i’m finding peace in the bigger story – the one that reminds me that i believe in my work, and that i’m working hard so that children’s faith will be formed and inspired for a lifetime, and that even in the busyness, god is shaping, forming and completing me in his image.

my prayer today from marianne williamson’s illuminated prayers:

dear god,

as i wake up this morning,

may your spirit come upon me.

may my mind receive your emanations,

and my soul receive your blessing,

and my heart receive your love.

may all those i meet or even think of on this day feel better for it.

may i contribute peace.

may i serve your purposes with all i say and do, today and always.

please show me how.

amen