Reflection

Digging in

Rebecca Goldsmith writes about going deeper in her spiritual life as a mother

IF asked whether becoming a parent has enhanced my spiritual life, my first instinct would probably be to say no. Framing my spiritual life in terms of my Sunday morning worship time, it has changed from a 90-minute period of uninterrupted focus on worship and the word, to an exercise in managing two small people in a confined space.

I must clarify this by saying that my corps, Romford, has always been an incredibly welcoming place to my children – and the noise and disturbance that can come with them. My corps has always felt like family to me, and family get-togethers are rarely quiet or without some minor crisis of a toy to share or a drawing gone wrong.

However, this doesn’t change the fact that entering a real atmosphere of worship has been a challenge since I had my girls. How do I devote myself to sung worship while also keeping my eye out for a toddler on the run? How do I fully immerse myself in prayer time while feeling the need to tell my daughter to whisper and quickly grabbing the noisy toy that snuck into the bag of tricks?

Having had the privilege of being supported by mothers of children both young and old, I realise that this is pretty much a universal experience of parenting and church. Motherhood – parenthood – changes you. It changes your priorities and focus, but it also changes your life practically and logistically. Sometimes the practical changes cause the most angst.

Despite feeling that it really should be a free and added benefit of being a mother, I am no more able now to be in two places at once than I was before. This can affect more than just worship in a Sunday meeting. Cell group study and devotional time either just don’t happen or happen around childcare practicalities. The other weekly aspects of corps life that once added dimension to my spiritual experience are all now framed around the very practical and necessary question of who’s watching the kids.

For me, it has been a challenge. But someone wise recently said to me that as a Christian all life is a spiritual life.

So what about my life outside Sunday morning hours or weekly evening commitments? I can say this: I am more awed by, and certain of, God’s love for me now than I have ever been.

I love my children. How I love them is with a depth of love I had not experienced before becoming a parent. That is not to say I did not previously love my family or my husband, Chris, deeply, or that deep love is not available to those who are not parents, but I understand now what it means to love someone unconditionally in a way that I didn’t before.

That doesn’t mean I always like them unconditionally. Or that I am a ‘zen’ parent who somehow manages to get through all my days without ever losing my temper or feeling the need to close myself in the bathroom for five minutes’ peace.

But my aim as their mum to is let my girls know that they are loved. If this is how much I, in my fallen human state, can love my girls, then how much more does God love me? How much more real is it to believe that my Father God loves me unconditionally? How enhanced is my faith by knowing the love of Father God as a mother myself?

I recognise now that in these ‘young family’ years there is an element of digging in, spiritually speaking. My easy access to worship is not so easy right now and I have to be more dedicated and inventive when it comes to carving out time for my devotions.

However, God has opened an understanding of his love to me – how wide, how deep, how high it really goes. It is a love that sustains me now, will sustain me through these ‘digging in’ years and, I believe, will sustain me always.

Rebecca with Pippa and Penny

A ministry of give and take

Staff and volunteers at four SATCoL donation centres share insights into their work

THE Salvation Army’s donation centres are dotted around the UK, serving their local communities. Operated by The Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL), donation centres offer affordable, second-hand furniture and other household items, as well as clothing. Donation centres have a positive impact on people’s lives in many ways. The funds raised go to help the Army’s work and they also help the environment as each donation stops unwanted items from potentially going to landfill.

WEST BROMWICH

OPENED 6 OCTOBER 2016

Dennis Hill

Donation centre manager The very first day we opened we were apprehensive and nervous, but there was an air of excitement about the place and it went really well. There were queues coming to the door and it was a wonderful day.

Originally the donation centre was set up purely to take in donations so we could sort and feed them out to other shops. We had a small sales area, but we soon noticed that items were selling fast and furious. This encouraged us to expand that area and, slowly but surely, the business grew and the sales grew, and the customer base grew to what it is today.

The centre’s open-plan format is unique because it allows people to see from the shop floor all the volunteers sorting and the products that they’ve donated being put to good use.

There’s also a social and environmental aspect to what we do. We take in the donations, but we don’t ask a fortune for them when putting them up for sale: we ask a reasonable price that people in the community can afford and that is what The Salvation Army is all about.

Dennis

As the donation centre concept evolves, so too does our appetite for greater visibility and meaningful representation of Salvation Army mission in the community

Angus

EDINBURGH PIERSHILL

OPENED 12 OCTOBER 2017

Angus Adams

Donation centre manager When I opened this donation centre, I wanted it to be a place that was at the heart of the community, that was great fun and had a buzz and atmosphere about it. Several years on, here we are bringing in tonnes of donations every week with a team of 40 volunteers working really hard and having fun while they’re doing it. We are transforming these donations into things for reuse or recycling and for making money that’s going to support vulnerable people throughout the UK and beyond.

We are blessed with donations flooding in. When local organisations get in touch, we can help. Our local primary school asked us if we could give them some board games. We were able to offer them several. We also help the Lifehouse whenever it’s in need of things like beds or mattresses. If we’ve got them, we are happy to give them.

Nicola

Volunteer I love it. It’s a laugh working with the people and we have good bosses. I do find it quite an emotional place to work because sometimes you can tell somebody’s died by the stuff that comes in. But I do get a sense of job satisfaction. By volunteering, I see a purpose in my life.

Lee

CHESTERFIELD

OPENED 10 DECEMBER 2020

Lee Foster

Donation centre manager What’s unique about this donation centre is that we have the corps hall next door. We get lots of support from corps officers Captains Carl and Elizabeth Di-Palma, who offer us guidance on things that we might not know about The Salvation Army and what it does. We also get lots of volunteers from the corps who help us out in the store. They like to come in and chat to customers, which the customers enjoy. It’s a great space for the corps and the store to come together.

Captain Carl Di-Palma

Chesterfield Corps hasn’t had its own space for nearly 20 years. It’s a real blessing to have a space where we can meet for whatever we want, whenever we want. One of the issues before seemed to be that people didn’t realise that The Salvation Army was still around in Chesterfield, so it’s great to have this central hub where people can see us and come to us.

It’s obviously a place where we can grow and nurture our existing community and members. But it’s also a place where we can work with the community, get to know people more personally, express our faith and go on a journey with people. We’re trying to instil that confidence in our corps members to be able to share their faith – and being on this site gives us a great opportunity to do that.