One of my dear friends came to church yesterday with just one of her two girls with her. She was late and I could tell from across the parking lot, not happy. I said a little prayer for her sense of peace. I know she has close to never-ending battles with her middle child and if that “said child” wasn’t in church with her mom, then this morning’s battle must have been epic. To top it off, my friend is in charge of the children’s Sunday school program so it wasn’t like she could just go sit somewhere and zone out for an hour.
It seems like in many if not most families, this Sunday morning scenario is familiar. We try to get up on Sunday mornings, get or children and ourselves dressed and fed and get to church on time. But inevitably, there is chaos. From shoes that fit last week that for some unknown reason won’t fit this week, to lost socks, to the inevitable whining about being too tired to go; the assault on our ability to get to a worship service on time and in peace is an ongoing struggle from the baby years to the teen years. The reasons for all of the morning rushing, fighting and chaos may change, but the chaos itself never seems to end. I had the same conversation with another friend of mine when we were raising two and four-year olds as I had today with my friend who has pre-teens. Children who can get to school five days a week with no problem at all, can’t get out the door on Sunday morning without causing mommy to have a migraine.
I have to ask myself, why it is always this way? I remember Sunday mornings being the same way at my house when I was growing up. If we are trying to raise our children to know and love God and trying to get to a weekly worship service, why does it have to be so difficult? The answer is of course, that we are fighting a battle against evil and evil doesn’t like to lose.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10-12, “A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you may be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities in the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
What is he talking about? He’s telling us that as Christians, we are in an ongoing war with Satan. When you are in a war, you have to fight and you have to expect to be attacked. Satan may know that he can’t have our souls, but if he can get us as rattled and angry as possible before we get to church, maybe he can keep us from opening our hearts up to what God is trying to tell us or keep us closed off to the Holy Spirit’s nudging. You can’t really hear the message when you’re seething about something that happened thirty minutes before you arrived. Of course his true goal would be for us to give up altogether and just stop taking our children to church period. Who wins then?
I think it’s really important for us to be aware that we are under assault. I don’t think we need to dwell on it, but if we can keep it in mind on Sunday mornings, maybe we can take some deep breaths, and refuse to give into the anger that the chaos causes. In the end, as I am standing before my heavenly father will it matter that my daughter didn’t have her hair washed or that my son wore flip-flops in December or will it matter that I took them to church, (in peace)? I need to spend some time pondering and praying about this. How about you?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂