Chaos on Sunday mornings looks different these days. They get dressed and brush their own hair. Start the car when it’s cold out. Make their own breakfast. Pray with me on the way to church now. I am more free to meet and engage with people on Sundays.
Not that we don’t still have our battles on Sunday mornings. I often have to ask forgiveness on the way for barking at one of them. But I remember not very long ago, the battles looked different. Wolfing down breakfast (after feeding everyone else), speed nursing, shoes missing, breakdowns happening, complete chaos. Not to mention a heavy diaper bag with snacks, drinks, & pretty much half my house. Staggering into the pew.
Satan would love nothing better than to discourage a mom with young children. Especially on Sunday mornings. Elisabeth Elliot says it so well: “Sunday morning, the Lord’s Day, can be the very time when everything seems so utterly unrelated to the world of the spirit that it is simply ridiculous.”
He sees you. He sees the sacrifices to get there. What feels like so much effort for so little payoff is actually beautiful to God’s heart. The lowliness. The mini deaths to self. Dying so another may live. An act of worship and faith. God is pleased.
Bringing your children to church also blesses people around you. They bring joy, noise, sweetness….they bring life.
Friends, encourage a mom when you see them at church with young children. Not with flippant comments, “just wait until they are teenagers…,” but with gracious words like a honeycomb, that are sweetness to the soul and health to the body. (Prov 16:24)
The mothers holding little sticky hands and heavy teenage hearts. And everything in between.
I am already thinking about what words I want to say to young moms when I am silver-haired and seasoned. Helpful words.
Every Mom is likely feeling some discouragement. Aware of their failures. Barely awake. Wanting to just hear 10 minutes of a sermon or a song without an interruption.
To my mama friends: Where you are is exactly the season God has called you into. It is the training ground of your contentment so you can carry it over into the next season.
Sunday morning moments are holy moments.
This is what he asks of you today. This is where you are supposed to be. Embrace it as from him. Lean in. Laugh at the chaos. Accept the interruptions. The Lord never interrupts by mistake. Interruptions are always an opportunity.
And when the next season comes, you’ll have trained your spiritual muscles to embrace again. New challenges. New moments. New Sunday morning battles. New morning graces and mercies. New opportunities to feel loved by Jesus and carried by his grace.
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