Being a pastor's wife with 16 month old twins lends itself to one major challenge each and every week: Taking our girls to church. I must admit that for the most part, I dig my heels in every Wednesday, fearing what lies ahead in 3 days. I literally feel myself getting a panic attack just thinking about how I will handle two disruptively energetic toddlers of the same age throughout a service that is supposed to be quiet and extremely reserved and reverent. How do I teach 16 month old toddlers to sit still for 1-2 hours at a time? I can not even keep them to sit still for a short 10 minute family worship at home which is mostly made of kids music with daddy's guitar and singing!
This past week I wanted it to be different. I prayed...I contemplated...I studied. And after doing all three, I realized something. In the Bible, Jesus said "Let the little children come to me." He rebuked the disciples for keeping them away from Him! If Jesus were leading out at our church, what would He do if I walked in with my girls? Would He look at us and say "Ok...take them outside. Don't bring them in here." Absolutely not! And guess what, He IS leading out every week! It is HE who we come to worship! The more they come to Him, the more they will learn what being reverent is. The more they enter His presence, the more they will love Him too and want to serve Him. If I ever took that away from them, what would my girls gain by not entering His presence each and every week?
So, I began preparing. I put together two little church bags of quiet things that I would take out once they got settled into their pews. Then I put together two snack sized ziplock bags of Cheerios. Whenever I brought their fancy little snack holders, they would get more excited over the snack holders than the snack themselves, and fight for the other's snack holder! Goldfish and crackers would fly everywhere...it was just a disaster that always turned into chaos...so this week I just went with the simple, basic ziplock bag that I knew I could easily zip shut if they wanted to hold them and shake them around.
The night before, I laid out their dresses and completely packed their diaper bag. I also laid out my outfit for church. I wanted that morning to be a seamless as possible. No stress.
Once Saturday morning came, I got the girls up and kept them up. I didn't lay them back down for a nap before getting them ready for church as I had normally done. We all got ready, I grabbed the diaper bag I had packed before, and we were out the door.
We had one screaming episode. I was sitting in the pew by myself with the girls and after taking them up to the Children's Story, we were walking back to our pew and they screamed. I mean SCREAMED. They did not want to go back into the pew! I picked both of them up, one on each hip, and walked out the door and took them to the Mother's Room where they continued to scream at the top of their lungs! Suddenly, the door opened and there stood a kind woman from our church. The girls immediately stopped screaming. I mean immediately stopped and just looked up at her. She said "Can I help?" I said "YES!" From that moment on, the presence of a "stranger" to them was all it took. She picked up one of the girls and helped me calm them down for a few minutes until I decided to take them both back into the sanctuary in hopes of listening to daddy's sermon.
They sat still! This kind woman (WENDY!) held Madeline while I held Savannah and we both held open two ziplock bags of Cheerios. The girls quietly grazed on their Cheerios through the entire sermon! It was a SUCCESS!
Here's why:
This past week I wanted it to be different. I prayed...I contemplated...I studied. And after doing all three, I realized something. In the Bible, Jesus said "Let the little children come to me." He rebuked the disciples for keeping them away from Him! If Jesus were leading out at our church, what would He do if I walked in with my girls? Would He look at us and say "Ok...take them outside. Don't bring them in here." Absolutely not! And guess what, He IS leading out every week! It is HE who we come to worship! The more they come to Him, the more they will learn what being reverent is. The more they enter His presence, the more they will love Him too and want to serve Him. If I ever took that away from them, what would my girls gain by not entering His presence each and every week?
So, I began preparing. I put together two little church bags of quiet things that I would take out once they got settled into their pews. Then I put together two snack sized ziplock bags of Cheerios. Whenever I brought their fancy little snack holders, they would get more excited over the snack holders than the snack themselves, and fight for the other's snack holder! Goldfish and crackers would fly everywhere...it was just a disaster that always turned into chaos...so this week I just went with the simple, basic ziplock bag that I knew I could easily zip shut if they wanted to hold them and shake them around.
The night before, I laid out their dresses and completely packed their diaper bag. I also laid out my outfit for church. I wanted that morning to be a seamless as possible. No stress.
Once Saturday morning came, I got the girls up and kept them up. I didn't lay them back down for a nap before getting them ready for church as I had normally done. We all got ready, I grabbed the diaper bag I had packed before, and we were out the door.
We had one screaming episode. I was sitting in the pew by myself with the girls and after taking them up to the Children's Story, we were walking back to our pew and they screamed. I mean SCREAMED. They did not want to go back into the pew! I picked both of them up, one on each hip, and walked out the door and took them to the Mother's Room where they continued to scream at the top of their lungs! Suddenly, the door opened and there stood a kind woman from our church. The girls immediately stopped screaming. I mean immediately stopped and just looked up at her. She said "Can I help?" I said "YES!" From that moment on, the presence of a "stranger" to them was all it took. She picked up one of the girls and helped me calm them down for a few minutes until I decided to take them both back into the sanctuary in hopes of listening to daddy's sermon.
They sat still! This kind woman (WENDY!) held Madeline while I held Savannah and we both held open two ziplock bags of Cheerios. The girls quietly grazed on their Cheerios through the entire sermon! It was a SUCCESS!
Here's why:
- I planned ahead - diaper bag packed, church play bags packed, and Cheerio's packed the night before
- I did not let them have a morning nap before church. They were tired and relaxed onto our laps through the service.
- I gave them a few crackers after our Sabbath School class and before we went into church to curb their ravenous appetites, then saved the Cheerio's only for sermon time. All about timing!!!!
- A kind "stranger to them" helped calm them. They were less likely to calm down with me than with someone they didn't know.
- PRAYER. I asked God for help.....My mom prayed for us that morning, and my mother-in-law prayed for us that morning and I know others in our family who know our struggles prayed for us that morning. God listened! God answered our prayers and helped!
Now I know that this will not be a success story each week. After all, I have two toddlers of the exact same age and no daddy to sit with us each week. But I learned a valuable lesson...."Let the little children come unto me..." God wants my girls in church! God wants to hear my prayers asking for help. And in the meantime, I must do my part to plan accordingly to help make our Sabbath day go as smooth and seamless as possible!
I read an amazing story on Jesus blessing the children in the Bible....It's in one of my favorite books, The Desire of Ages - you can read it HERE. It speaks to mothers - and fathers - about children and talks about the story where the disciples tried to keep the children away from Jesus. It spoke to this mother's heart.
Thank you, God for hearing our prayers. This mommy sat through an entire sermon for the first time in 16 months! Yipeee!!
3 comments:
I love it Bridgett! I'm sure the angels smiled and brought the kind lady to help out. God will continue to bless your and Chris's efforts to have the girls where the Holy Spirit can touch their hearts as well.
A promise I have on our refrigerator states, "That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments." Psalm 78:6-7.
you think Wendy might come to Lincolnton or Shelby sometime and lend a hand to my single-mom wife?
i should say this, though, the last few weeks have been quite good for the kiddos in church. Oliver is doing much better. glad to hear of your success!!!
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