- Today is Sunday. This you already know. What you may not know is that today is my last Sunday at home for a while. Next weekend I start back to work. It’s hard to believe that 6 weeks will be up this coming Saturday. I’ve enjoyed the time off. I’ve enjoyed being able to attend church on Sunday. I will once again start listening to the sermons on CD. I was apprehensive about missing church on Sunday when I first accepted my weekend position. I prayed about it, along with my spouse. I weighed the pros and cons. We agreed that the extra time with the children that working strictly weekends allowed me was worth it. I worried about missing the spiritual growth I received on Sunday, but I recently realized something interesting. During the 11 previous months that I missed church on Sunday, my relationship with The Lord grew exponentially. I don’t know if it was the extra free time during the week or my concerns of loosing out on time with Him on Sunday, or perhaps a combination of both. Somehow, missing Sunday caused me to seek Him out more ferociously at all other times. Surprisingly, during the almost year of missing church, I found myself reading my Bible, reading devotionals, praying, and spending more quiet time with Him than ever before. I listened to the Sunday sermons on CD and chose to listen to them when Chloe was napping. So I ended up hearing more of the sermon than my husband had, who had been there, but had received frequent interruptions with Chloe in tow. I suppose this has taught me that if you seek God, you will find Him. I do still desire a way to attend church on Sunday and still work part-time and get to spend so much time at home taking care of my babies. The great thing is that God knows our desires. I will do what I need to do right now and pray that I can always approach it with a joyful heart. I’m pleased that I’m able to take care of my family, and that my relationship with The Lord continues to grow.
- Despite trying to arrive timely on my last Sunday, we were late. I’ve discovered that I can’t stress out about being late. If I do, I only find myself yelling at my children and nagging my husband. Both of these things are not of the nature of Christ and would therefore be counter-productive for a Sunday. God impressed this upon me one morning and I try to consistently remember that. I was pleased, though, that we did make it in time to enjoy a few songs in worship. I like that me and God are close enough that I don’t feel uncomfortable with worship. Therefore, I can immediately and easily fall into worshipping Him. Upon arrival, a song started called “How Great is Our God”. The words are quite simple, but sometimes those are the best ones. It basically consists of the title, with you proclaiming how great our God is. As I sang the simple chorus, yet felt the immense emotions in my heart, I saw the song played out around me. I saw my beautiful little girl dancing in her apple jumper in front of me. How great is our God! I saw a man in front of me put his arm around his wife and kiss her cheek. How wonderful a loving marriage is. How great is our God! Then I looked back at my spouse, standing in the back, bouncing the baby back to sleep so I could worship. How I love him! How great is our God! I felt the Holy Spirit filling my heart. How great is our God!!
- The other great thing about Sunday is time with family (I bet some of you were thinking football). Ben is always off on Sunday, so it’s a time with all of us together. As it’s rainy and cold, we came straight home. We haven’t done anything special, but that’s the great thing about spending time with the ones you love. You don’t have to do anything. Too many times, families fill up all their free time with activities. This can sometimes just exhaust everybody. We love going places and doing things, but sometimes you just need to spend the day together doing nothing. Take a nap. Hold hands with your sweetie on the couch as you watch a movie and eat popcorn. I personally recommend placing a 5 week old on your chest to nap (very fulfilling indeed). Build block castles. Give hugs. Dance. Play ball inside! Make cookies. Pretend. Laugh out loud many times. Read my blog, but then put your phone or iPad/laptop down.
That is all 🙂