Friday, February 21, 2014

worth it.

Sunday was just one of those days.

Clint was leading worship, so he left before I really woke up.

Reuben fussed on and off from 4:00AM on so, before Clint left, I had him bring Reuben in bed with me. Great idea to get more sleep... until Reuben (who's basically my alarm clock) decided to sleep until 7:30.

So we woke up late. Rushed to get ready. Reuben fought his diaper change and putting on clothes tooth and nail. No time for either of us to eat a real breakfast, but no cash to pick up something on the way. We live 15-20 minutes away from church and we got in the car 10 minutes before service started.

We walked into the worship center during the last chorus of the last song of the worship set and turned around and left to walk into the choir room to see Clint and go into the mother's room to listen to the sermon/nurse/try and squeeze a nap in for Reuben.

Well little man was not having any of nursing or napping since he'd only been awake for an hour. So I fed him a few grapes I'd grabbed running out the door and let him crawl around while I half listened to a sermon/half made sure he wasn't destroying anything.

Then it was time for the nursery. It was his first week in a room away from me since he turned one the day before. He moved up to the "Crawlers" room, just a few rooms down from the itty bitty baby room where I serve. He started screaming the second he was out of my arms, and didn't stop screaming unless he was on the cart where all the fussy kids go. It was heartbreaking to hear my baby screaming at the top of his lungs when I couldn't do anything for him.

When it was finally time to pick him up, I realized I'd lost my pick-up tag. I went to his classroom, hoping they'd let me just take him since most people know us, but they wouldn't (which I do appreciate security wise!). He saw me leave again and started screaming louder until I got back with a reprinted sticker. He didn't even really calm down once he was in my arms. He was whimpering this pitiful little whimper and was breaking my heart all the way to the car.

We finally got in the car and he fell asleep and, of course, considered that his nap time. He didn't fall asleep again until around 1:30 and ended up sleeping in my arms until after 4:00. He was exhausted.


After all of that, I found myself frustrated we had even gone to church. If we had just stayed home and watched it online like I'd wanted to do the day after his party, none of this would've happened. It would've been a pleasant, stress-free morning.

But then God reminded me of something Clint had said the night before. He said, "Worshiping God is important to us. We have to start teaching him that NOW and making a routine of it. Going to church can't be optional. It's worth it."

Those words reminded me of a blog I'd read addressed to parents of young children in church. I went back to re-read the blog while I was holding a sleeping babe in my arms and these words stuck out:
"I know how hard it is to do what you’re doing, but I want you to know, it matters. It matters to me. It matters to my children to not be alone in the pew. It matters to the congregation to know that families care about faith, to see young people… and even on those weeks when you can’t see the little moments, it matters to your children."
So as I sat there, cuddling Reuben, I thanked God for the blessing and privilege of being the one to teach him about God. It's a huge responsibility and one that I can't take lightly. He's entrusted Reuben to me as a gift. To raise him up into a godly man who will impact the world for the Kingdom of God.

So that awful Sunday morning that we had?

It was worth it.

3 comments:

  1. I have been there! And I also think it is worth it!:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I just joined your site - you have a lovely blog! (I think if you click on my name you can see mine.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well thank you! I'm definitely going to check yours out! :)

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...