Being a Mom on Sundays

Since I've had Tali, my love for Sunday mornings has not come easily. Sadly, each week it is a fight to see the blessing of Sundays. Sunday mornings involve hours of preparation on Saturday evening (packing diaper bag, getting clothes set out, loading the car), occasionally catching a tiny bit of a sermon, handing Cheerio after Cheerio to Tali, nursing Owen, walking the halls, etc. Yes, this is just for a season. But while I'm in this season, I need God's help to view Sundays through the lens of the Gospel instead of through my sinful selfishness. I've not perfected this at all but it's something that I'm seeking to think about.

One way that I can do this is to look at Sundays as a day for serving God's people, not a day about me. When we were at the Pastor's College, one woman shared about going on Sundays looking for ways to serve. What a difference that makes when we take our eyes off of ourselves and look for ways to serve others! She made the comment, "Someone here needs to be edified. Lord, who is it today?" Her practice has been to walk into church praying, asking the Lord to direct her to a person that she can encourage or pray for. Instead of going to church, looking for how I can be built up, I want to go looking for who I can encourage.

As a mom with small kids, this may take place in the nursing mom's room or in the hall or even for 2 minutes before the service starts. Maybe it's not the lengthy discussion that I was once able to have, but I can still pray for someone in 30 second version if I'm looking at how I can serve instead of lamenting the ways that I'm not being served (aka: not sitting through an entire sermon, etc).

More thoughts later.