Bringing Joy not Obligation

Dread of church has been my theme of late. To review what you've probably already picked-up about our church services, they are at least 3 and a half hours long. I have three children who cannot understand the bulk of the worship. There are two times in the church service where anyone in the congregation can stand up and share their greetings, thanksgivings and introduce visitors and there is one time that anyone can stand up and give a song. These are one the reasons church is so long! Even if there is an acknowledged reason to hurry on a particular Sunday, West African time will take over and it will go on and on. Occasionally there is Sunday School to which my children are scared to go to by themselves because they are scared of not understanding and or being hit by a switch. I can understand, as I do not like going myself and seeing children hit when they cannot repeat a memory verse or answer a question.

I do not know how to tackle this challenge for my children. Since they were young, I have expected that if they are in worship they are participating in worship, not amusing themselves otherwise to 'keep quiet'. But three and a half hours for 4, 5 and 7 year olds when not understanding everything is a LOT to ask. So far we have decided to let A Delight read from the Bible at certain times. The boys cuddle up and I translate for them from time to time. We try to quietly write letters on each other's back and squeeze finger nails. And even though I don't care to, I accompany them to Sunday School.

I think part of my problem comes down to worshiping being an obligation instead of the joy that I want to bring to the Lord. Seems like a lack of joy can easily be at the root of many of life's "trouble's."  So I brought this lack of desire to worship to some trusted pray-ers. It has certainly helped and the last two weeks have been an improvement in attitude, but I still have a ways to go.

It reminds me of a time that I was holding on to anger and I kept telling my husband that I should ask different people to pray for me. One night when I was awake with a baby, I was confronted that I could simply pray myself and let go of it. In fact it was my job to bring this to God in prayer. Immediately after prayer I had such a sense of peace. Amazing how many times we have to be reminded of the things God want to teach us!

-- La Maestra