Today was the first time I could sit through a whole service at church. And that was only because K took E to the nursery, stayed with her until she got settled, and went back to tend to her when she cried cos she was looking for us. She seems to have hit the peak of separation anxiety, and can't be distracted by any toys (and believe me, there are a lot of toys in the church nursery, and really cool fun ones too!).
Almost all the people we've met at church have been really friendly and welcoming. Yet, what sticks in my mind is something that happened the first week the kids and I were there. The church being new to the kids, I had not wanted to push them to sunday school right away, so we sat at the very last row, with both the kids, in the service. Naturally they were making some noise, and that's why we were at the back, trying to minimise the distraction. But one guy sitting a couple of seats from us actually told us to send them to the nursery. Which I felt was incredibly unwelcoming!!! And a poor witness. I was quite upset about it actually, but the children's pastor saw what had happened and she quickly reassured me that was ok for the kids to stay (kids make noise, she said, that's what they do). So I'm trying not to let the negative undo all the positive.
So everyone else whom we've met in the church has been really nice, but this incident is still on my mind. And it's made me think about how important our actions are in witnessing for our faith. Does my behaviour do a dis-service to Christ? It's not just about having a bad day or being tired or being in a hurry, but about reflecting poorly on, and dishonouring, my Father. So that's my prayer: that I honour Him with my actions, words, behaviour. Even though I know I will come up short. That's when it's time to give Him thanks for His grace!
So there it is, my long story. I've wondered about whether to put up this particular post, and I decided to put it up because I also want to remember what I've learnt along the way, in our time here.
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3 comments:
hi, God is always teachng us - in mny ways, different circumstances. It is natural to react, especially when it affects or refers to our kids. I too have reacted.
The church is meant for inperfect ppl like us, there is no perfect church. I have learn to be more patient and give them a smile and move on.
Hope your small incident will not stop you from going back cos there are lots of nice ppl there (as you wrote) =) wck
You're right. I think the reason why it stuck with me was because it had to do with the kids. Anyway, we're fine. And we're still going to church there. Everything else has been great!
hey fiona,
i do understand that it must be really hurtful as a mother to hear something like that 'take your kids to the nursery so they don't disturb us'
but i thought perhaps the guy had only meant that if josh/emma stays, emma might be disturbing the entire congregation from paying attention to the service or something (:
but well i don't know the matter and if he said it to you in a really impolite tone then it was very wrong of him and it's great that the children's pastor reassured you that it was fine (:
oh dear, but you're an adult that i look up to and respect and i'm sure there was a good reason that you were upset by the incident.
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