Preparing the Heart for Sunday

How was your Sunday?  I pray you enjoyed the fellowship with other believers, and the exhortation from the Scriptures.  However, if your Sunday was like mine where you were distracted by a whimpering baby and a squirmy toddler, it may not be so easy to say you had a fabulous Sunday.

Yes, Sunday was a challenge.  However, today is a new day.  So, today I begin with the preparation of my heart for next Sunday.

There was a time I dreaded Sundays.  It's not that I didn't like going to church.  I loved going to church.  I just hated to go to church when my husband was preaching and I had to try to grow more arms to keep each of my children quiet.  Yet, as the time passed I realized that the more I hated going to church, the worse my children behaved in church.  Thus, I set out to change my bad attitude about Sundays.

I went back to the Scripture - Yes, I could get more out of a sermon by listening at home when the children were down for naps: God commands us to gather together with other believers. 

Hebrews 10:24-25 states

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another

This passage has helped me to realize that the purpose of attending church is not just to sit in the pew and listen to the sermon.  The purpose of my attending church is to "stir up another to love and good works."  I can't do this if I have a bad attitude about attending in the first place.

Once I realized that my attendance at church was for the purpose of encouraging other believers and to receive encouragement from other believers, attending church became much easier. I no longer had the pressure to try to be fed from the sermon while my kids squirmed for attention.

Now I enjoy going to church, not because of the sermon (although I'm sure my husband is a great preacher, and I'm sure someday I'll actually be able to hear an entire sermon without interruption).  But I look forward to going to church because it's my opportunity to minister to my church family.  By giving hugs, and letting the other women know I'm praying for them throughout the week, I can encourage them. And, I have learned to enjoy just the short visits I get with each church member.

I am also encouraging my children by teaching them the importance of faithfulness; and most importantly, I am encouraging my husband.  When I miss a service (for reasons other than illness), it discourages my husband.  I like to try to hear at least one small point of his sermon to discuss with him over the noon meal. 

So, Mondays are important for me.  They help me to reset my thinking.  I do continue to struggle with the thoughts of "it would be so much easier to just keep them home," or "what's the point in going if every Sunday is going to be like this."  On Mondays I remind myself of why it's important to attend church, and start looking forward to the next Sunday.  By building up anticipation all week, I find it much easier to be joyful and excited about attending church on Sunday, and to be hopeful that this Sunday will be better.