Many years ago we made the decision to disband our children's church and nursery, and go to a system of parents training their little ones to worship with us. We have cry room, and so on, but the intent is to have our children grow up into the worship of God. We have had many reasons to rejoice in that decision, and we don't regret it at all.
At the same time, the point of this exhortation is to let you parents know that we know how much work you do, and to encourage you in it. It is good work, work that will bear fruit for many years, over many generations. It is sometimes easy to lose sight of the long view, especially if you have five children under the age of seven, and all of them are squirmy. It is easy to lose sight of that when you haven't heard more than ten minutes of a sermon at a time in three years, and you wonder if you will ever be able to listen to a sermon again.
But the life of Christ is not best represented by listening to a lecture, undistracted by anything. The life of Christ is pulled in many directions, just like you are being, and you are willing for this to happen so that your children may come to worship the Lord. Laying it down for someone else this way is our glory. It is a sacrifice to bring them to the Word, to the psalms, to the wine and to the bread.
So don't measure what you get out of these worship services with carnal balances. The weight of glory you are carrying is far beyond the weight of toddlers in your lap.
This blog entry really encouraged my heart as a mom of 2 kids under 2. Every sunday after the sermon I would leave church so heavy hearted and almost having a guilty feeling. I would mostly feel bad because once again I could not get the sermon because I was helping to meet the needs of my daughters. Showing Lilia how to sing with the hymnal held upright and breastfeeding Wren while trying to connect a little bit with my husband just to encourage him and let him know I am in tune with the worship. I always had this idea in my mind that if I was a more together Christian and mom I would have perfect children and all the points of the sermon written out in my perfectly hightlighted bible. But after reading this I realize that I am bringing glory to the Lord by just bringing my children to the foot of the cross and worshipping him with all of them! I hope all my momma buddies read this and are so encouraged!
Aria
2 comments:
I could not help but remember this point today, as I sat through each service. So many times, I have walked away from a service wondering what I gained from being there, but now I have a new way of thinking as I approach each new service. More could be said, but what an encouragement. Thanks for passing this along.
Such a wonderful point. Mr. Wilson always has some interesting things to say. I learned alot living over there, things that I look forward to doign with my own children.
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