Whenever God’s people take up the adventure that He sends them, there are always troubles that arise in the midst of the adventure that make you want to second guess your initial decision. In the midst of the turmoil that you have gotten yourself into, it is easy to wonder if you read the fine print carefully enough. One example would be the path that many of you have chosen to follow—bringing many children into the world, caring for them, providing them with a Christian education, bringing them to worship every week, and doing so in a church where all the littles spend the entire worship service with us, worshiping together with us.
This is no fad—fads are not this much work. But it might be easy to think “this must have been a fad when we chose to do it.” I want to speak a particular word of exhortation and encouragement to you moms who are doing this. It would be easy for you to focus on all “management troubles in your row.” You know, the little ones are squirming, or making faces at the visitors sitting behind you, or spilling communion wine into the psalter, or having to be taken out three times in the service and brought back in again . . . you don’t need to be reminded of the drill. It might be happening right now. You might be wishing you could listen to this word of encouragement to moms, but you are distracted.
Be encouraged in this one thing. All these things are happening in the presence of the Lord. He delights in them. He wants you here, and He wants you here in this kind of shape. Bringing children to Jesus is something that He welcomes, and He welcomes all that is entailed in it. We sometimes think that He wants us to be more like the officious disciples, frowning at the squirmers, when He actually wants us to be more like the squirmers. Unless you become as a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Amen says this Momma to four :)
Sometimes when my kids were little, and then when I started taking two of my grandchildren to church with me, I wondered why I bother to go to church. That’s how little I was able to pay attention. Up and down, in and out, scold, spank, sit. But they learned to sit still and even really listen. My grandson, when he was seven, asked me after service one Sunday why Jesus went to hell. He had paid attention when we recited the Apostles’ Creed. I gave him the responsibility of asking Pastor Knecht. His listening later led him to tell… Read more »
When our first was a newborn and I barely heard a word of the sermons, it brought new meaning to 1 Corinthians 14:35. :)
I sat through everything from the time I was born. My mother was the church pianist so we were right up front. My Dad would grab the top of my head and turn it around – funny!
Embrace the squirm!
Thank you Pastor Wilson. Much needed encouragement for this mom of an 11 month old who wrote the book on squirming.