I'm on day 2 of the flu or what feels like the flu with sore throat, coughing, fever and aches and pains. The fever I think is gone today but, I still am in the bed hoping that tomorrow I will feel like getting out of it. As I am confined to my room, with no tv, and just plain bored my mind is thinking about everything. Things I need to be doing, things I would love to work on, projects, places I would like to visit for vacations and also about life in general and how we live it. So, I thought I would boldly blog about my thoughts on Sunday Morning Worship and how or when do we prepare for it and how do we teach our kids the importance of it. There are no right and wrong answers only thoughts of what seem to be working in our family as we raise our 3 sons to love God and to serve others by attending worship on Sunday mornings, which is the only meeting time as of right now for corporate worship. Just a disclaimer, Sunday morning is only a very small amount of time that we worship God and serve him together with our church family. Our worship must happen everyday all week long, NOT only on Sunday mornings. So with that said onto the question: When do you start preparing for Sunday?
When Clay and I were first married we were regular attenders and were close to our church family but, before kids came long, if we felt like missing a service every once in a while, then we did. I can remember times I would stay home and sleep in and Clay might go without me or me without him. It never seemed like a big deal and maybe it wasn't, I don't really know. Then we had Zach and everything changed. I knew the weight of responsibility that God had place on my shoulders, on our shoulders. I(we) were now responsible for teaching this child about God, His Son, how to love others the way He does and how to serve the way Jesus taught us to serve. I knew that one day I would stand before my Almighty, Loving God and I would have to give an account on how I raised my son. I wasn't raised in the church, so I'm not sure where this "instinct" came from but, I knew and still know the truth of it. If we weren't faithful to attend church regularly then how would our sons know the importance of attending regularly? If we didn't lead by example then we would pay for it and our boys would pay for our mistakes and maybe even our grandchildren and so on. The tricky part of this is it's not just about attending and punching the "church" time clock so that we look good but, it's about being there each week to love on others and to be loved on too. It's about encouraging others and being encouraged. Granted, there have been many, many Sunday mornings that I have longed to stay in bed up to my eyeballs but, my sons would know that I was "playing hooky" and see that it wasn't important to me. There have been a number of times that Clay would let me stay home and he would take the boys, and this was because my own daily obligations were catching up with me (which is totally my fault) and something would have to give or I would hurt someone.
For as long as I can remember we have always prepared for Sunday morning on Saturday. We have been pretty strict with our boys about being out late or staying up too late with friends because we attend church on Sunday. There are no exception in our house, if one of the boys stays over at a friends house he is expected to be at church the next morning. If one of our sons isn't able to go to church because he is staying over at a friends house, then he can't stay the night. Our boys know the rules and over the years if Clay or I even subtly mentioned we may not go to church the next day for illness or weather, our boys would almost have a melt down. They love going to services! They have been trained that Sunday is important to God, to others needing them to be there and they need to be encouraged too. This may seem harsh "making" our boys attend church but, we "make" them go to the dentist and "make" them go to the doctor or to school because it is what is best for our boys. What could be more important than serving God by serving others. Our boys are far from perfect but, they love God and they see us loving God in a very flawed and real way. As long as they live here they will always be expected to worship on Sunday mornings. What are your thoughts??
2 comments:
My babies are still little and we do miss when they are sick as a courtesy to the other mama's or babes in the nursery or preschool room. Though we are fostering the spirit of worship my song loves to sing worship music. We pray frequently about losts of things, they may seem insignificant to me as an adult, but it helps my child understand. Even at the tender age of three he holds his hand out for worship and is not afraid to lay hands on the sick or hurting and pray. I just pray that in the small ways and big ways we continue this for our kids.
Oh and there is absolutely no reason to apologize for "making" your children go to church.
I think that's wonderful you are instilling that in your children.
I grew up as a preachers kid and so we were there whenever the doors were open! My husband and I live about 45-50mins from our church (he was going there when I met and married him last year) and we only go on Sunday morning. It is so hard for me because I grew up always being there and knowing everyone. We go to a really big church and I have never even met the preacher! I struggle with the fact that when we have kids we'll have to travel so much and we won't be in a close nit group of Christians...something I feel is so important. It's not just about being there and getting marked off the attendance roster...it's about fellowship and relationship, something I feel I lack right now.
Hmm, it may be time for a heart-to-heart about this with my husband. Thanks for the encouragement and helping me see the importance of it now.
Blessings.
*visiting from the Bold Blogging carnival*
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