The Blessed Chaos of Vacation Bible School

This week is our church’s Vacation Bible School, a week filled with what I call “blessed chaos.” Yesterday, my day started around 8:30 am and ended about 11:00 pm. It was filled with a hospital visit, some technical support, a few phone calls, getting our laptop and projector to run a song DVD, talking to some rather energetic kids about missions, and a counseling chat with a couple of friends. It was fifteen hours of blessed chaos. What does that phrase mean, anyway?

It’s a term I use to describe the kind of busyness that really pays off. Everybody’s busy! You’re not alone, so stop bragging to everyone about how busy you are. What counts, and what makes our time worthy, is not how busy we are, but what the payoff for our time is. Vacation Bible School is a great reminder of what blessed chaos is all about. You hang on for the ride, you barely remain sane through the experience, and at the end, you sigh with that fulfilling feeling that says, “I was privileged to be counted worthy to make a difference in someone’s life!”

Blessed chaos usually relates to our time spent moving from one people-centered need to another. That can mean wrestling in the floor with a group of toddlers, juggling the phone between people in need of advice, or running from one spot to the next to accomplish your family shopping. It’s time spent investing in what really matters. It’s chaotic… it’s exhilarating. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

The only catch to blessed chaos is, you can’t keep it up all the time or you’ll end up losing what really matters. But in the midst of those whirlwind days when it’s tough to find time to breathe, remember that your time matters to God - every moment of it - especially when it’s spent with people!