Heavy Thoughts

I am constantly reminded in countless ways how important my husband's job, as a pastor, is and how important our roles are as parents.  Today I am reminded in a big way just how important his job, our roles as parents, god-parents, and as Christians really are.  While I don't want to go into the specifics of this jaunting reminder I will simply say that we have experienced a death in our extended family.  While the death alone is a lot to bear the thought of his eternal rest weighs heavily on our hearts.  I pray every day that my children, nieces and god-children grow and remain in the faith.  While I have no control over what my children do when they grow up and leave my house I have every bit of control over where they are and what they are doing now.  On Sunday mornings we are in church and then in Sunday school.  Every night before we go to bed we say our prayers.  We are constantly talking about Jesus.  Not in a preachy way, but in a loving way.  Now that John has started school we have had several conversations about not saying "Oh my god" or why a kid in his class won't tell him he is forgiven when he has apologized.  The world is ever changing and always sinful.  We don't take our kids to church and sunday school or pray and read them Bible stories to make them better people.  We do these things because we love our children and we want them to remain in the faith so that when they die (hopefully after living a long life) they will to go to Heaven.

I think it is very easy to put things off for another day.  We've all done this.  Being a pastor's daughter and now a pastor's wife I hear all kinds of excuses as to why people aren't in church. "I'm just not good about attending in the summer." "My kids just won't sit through church."  "I have a new baby and I don't want have him be in that germy environment."  "I worked all week and I'm just tired."  I could go on and on.  I'm not saying that you are not a Christian if you make these excuses and don't go to church.  But I find these excuses tend to be a slippery slope.  I've also known a few families that regularly attend while their children are in confirmation and then the whole family seems to drop off after the kid is confirmed.  What was the point in going through two or three years of classes?  I am saddened that some of my fellow confirmands  don't feel the need to attend church, pray or read their Bibles anymore.  Most of them have parents that have also stopped going.

Just like with everything else you teach your children, being a Christian is best shown by example.  If it is important to you it will be important to them.  Most kids will go through some kind of phase when they are in high school or college where they don't attend regularly.  Rather than just telling yourself that they will return to church after they aren't so busy or after they've graduated, why don't you talk to your kids about it?  I am not claiming to have all of the answers, but when it is time for my children to leave this world, I want to know I'll see them again someday.

So take the time now.  Hug your kids and your family.  Thank God for them.  Talk to them.  Read to them.  Bring them to church.  Show them it is important.  It may be hard, you may spend most of the time in the nursery with a crying kid, or have a teenager that is upset with you because you made him get up early.  But it is worth it.  I am not at all a touchy, feely, lay it on thick kind of Christian.  But nurturing your faith is important.  Remember this the next time you feel you can start attending church later, or you shy away from an unbeliever asking a question about your faith.  People die everyday...and they always think they had more time.