Being Set Free

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

For the first time in five and a half years of working at local primary school, I am finally, only a chaplain. Let me clarify that. Up until the past few weeks, I have been working mostly in reading groups in classrooms. Perhaps the role has looked largely like a teacher’s aide rather than a chaplain.

Somehow due to circumstances and the will of the acting principal, my work as chaplain had evolved into something that looked very different to caring for the emotional and spiritual needs of children. I was a disciplinarian/educator, and it was a heavy burden that had bound me up in heavy and tiresome chains. However, a change in principal has set me free to do what I had been initially employed to do.

There is a new found freedom to do what deep down I have longed for: to fully and wholly be with children, not in a teaching capacity, but in a pastoral-supportive role. With a change of role, comes a greater sense of purpose and enthusiasm. New ideas are swirling through my head, and I am leaping out of bed to get to work.

Perhaps, like me, you have felt caged and held back from doing what you knew you were made to do. Sometimes circumstances in life dictate what we do, and we have no control over our situation. Yet we can feel like there ought to be something more. There is a season for everything under the sun as the Teacher penned with wisdom in Ecclesiastes and the astute person knows when to wait with patience. However, when the season comes for change and freedom, it is like a longing fulfilled and our heart feels much, much lighter. John Bunyan wrote in Pilgrim’s Progress ‘first comes the bitter, then the sweet and the bitter makes the sweet so much sweeter!’

When the opportunity comes for us to step into a new area either vocationally, or in our life circumstances, let’s recognize it as God’s purpose for us, seize the moment and take up the challenge. We need new opportunities to lift us to new heights of growth. Our horizons need to be stretched otherwise we can become stale and stagnant. God is in the business of growing us to new levels of maturity and so with a confidence in His goodness and a spirit of courage, we can pursue the new direction He has planned for us. At these times we need to remind ourselves that God ‘did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-control.’ (2 Timothy 1:7).

I am eager to pursue this role as a fully-fledged chaplain and anticipate fruitful and helpful conversations with our children. What about you? Whereabouts might your invitation be, to leave behind the cage that has kept you confined, and frustrated and spread your wings, to take up something that excites and enthuses you? If you are being drawn into something new, what will you do about that? We are made for growth and maturity, so let’s keep pressing forward to take hold of hold that God has called us to become.

“Heavenly Father, I am aware that you are drawing me into something new and I want to obey your leading. Please give me the courage, the strength and the obedient heart to follow you so that you may be glorified in this new venture. Thank you.”