A Day in the Life....Sundays

It is early Monday morning as I type.  Early as in the sun is not up yet and and neighborhood roasters are crowing.  I am enjoying my cup of coffee and thinking it might be nice to write about Sundays.  In many ways my Sunday church experience is just like it was in the States.  There are so many similar elements that it is almost not worth writing about.  But, since I decided to do this Differences in Life in the Philippines series, I thought I would do a short post about Sundays.  And as a mom of young children, I will be writing from that perspective. ;)

Okay first similarities.  Our family wakes up, gets dressed, eats breakfast and drives to church.  We park our car and walk into church together.  Then we check our older kids into Sunday School and proceed to the worship hall.  Almost identical to your own experience, right?  Even the order of events in the worship service is very similar.  Singing, praying, reading Scripture, collecting offering, and listening to the sermon are the main elements.  Okay same.  Nothing at all worth mentioning that you wouldn't already know or suspect from your own experience with young mom's attending church.

But something I wanted to mention was mourning the loss of my Sunday.  Yet ironically, this has nothing to do with where I live but rather my season in life as a mom of young kids and my calling as a wife to a husband involved in full time ministry.  Okay.  So in my 20's when I was single and newly saved, Sundays used to be my favorite day of the week.  I loved Sundays and I looked forward to them!  After the church service I would love to hang around and see who else wanted to go out to eat.  Then I would go out to eat with friends and enjoy their company.  At one point, because I lived a decent distance from the church campus, I had a small group of friends that we would hang out together all afternoon until the evening service, first grabbing some lunch together then spending the rest on the quiet campus.  It was lazy and fun and a sweet time of fellowship with those two dear friends.  It was through those two friends that Allan and I meet and got to know each other... but I am digressing.

I mourned my first loss of a Sunday when I became a mother.  All of a sudden Sundays became so much more difficult.  I was distracted and found it very difficult to be able to participate and listen to the sermon and worship music.  Instead my Sunday morning was spent mostly outside the church doors feeding or tending to the needs of my baby.  But slowly I learned how to adjust.

I mourned my second loss of a Sunday when my husband went into full time ministry.  Now on Sundays he has responsibilities to do which prevents him from helping me with the children for the most part.  With the added difficulties of Sundays I quickly found my heart tempted to grow bitter.  I was shocked and saddened to remember that I once loved Sundays and looked forward to them all week.  But now with this bitterness creeping in I was beginning to dread Sundays.

So because I know my flesh and the weakness and foolishness of my heart I know I need to all the more pursue the truths of Philippians 4:8 to help guide me during the mourning of my loss of a Sunday.

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

First of all, I had learned that it is okay to be sad, that sadness is an appropriate response when you loose something.  You loose your favorite neckless, that is sad.  You loose a loved one, that is immensely sad.  You loose a friendship, that is sad.  It is normal and okay to be sad.  What is not okay, is the perversion of sadness.  To take that sadness and put it on like a garment to wear.  To use that new garment as your new identity, giving you a framework as to how to think and act.  No that is not okay.  But it is okay to be sad.  I read a book recently about depression and bipolar and the author mentioned that a lot of the depression today is the relabeling of sadness as a disease.  Realizing it is okay to acknowledge my sadness has given me freedom and encouragement to pursue obedience in my thoughts.  Before when the very emotion itself, sadness, was wrong I was miserable and upset for feeling sad, and I ended up fighting the feeling rather than fighting my thinking.  But now realizing it is okay to feel sad (and by acknowledging it is sad also admits it is difficult), but just not use it as my identity and excuse for my behavior.  This has really encouraged me to strive for obedience.

Think and dwell on these things...

*  1 Corinthians 10:13 - My struggle is common to moms and wives with husbands in full time ministry.  And my God promises that with this new struggle He will not leave me but will instead show me a way to endure it as a means of escape.

*  Hebrews 4:15-16 - I have someone who understands the temptation I feel to give into my sadness.  And yet, the very one who understands temptation the most has never given into temptation Himself. And He calls me to draw near to Him, to approach Him to find grace, mercy and help in the time of my need.  Here is a quote from C.S. Lewis that I read in this article:

A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. You find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.

*  Hebrews 5:8 - I can learn obedience through my trial.  Therefore the trial is good.  I can learn how to renew my mind with Scripture.  I can learn how to admit my weakness and depend on my great High Priest who is longing to help me and provide me with mercy and grace.  I can learn that is is possible to rejoice in my Savior even in spite of my circumstances (of chasing a toddler up and down two flights of stairs in 90% humidity).

*  Romans 5:1-5 - Jesus Christ has given me access into grace and peace with my God, therefore I know that my obedience in my suffering produces endurance in undesirable circumstances, which then in turn shapes my character, and a character built on patience, humility, kindness, compassion, mercy, and love for others produces hope that God's love has indeed been poured into my heart and that the Holy Spirit lives within me.

*  2 Peter 2:9 - my Lord knows how to rescue me from trials.

*  2 Peter 1:3 - I have everything I need to respond rightly to my circumstances.

*  Ephesians 6:1ff. My strength is in the Lord, it is His might not mine, therefore I can resist temptation to complain and compare myself and covet others, and instead endure obedient perseverance with the armor of the Lord. 

*  Exodus 34:6-7 My failures cannot exhaust the patience of God and his relentless pursuit of His own to bring them into fellowship with Him, for that is His very name and goodness!

*  Isaiah 40:11 & 41:10 - I will not fear or anxiously look about me on Sunday mornings, but instead keep looking to my Good Shepherd who is gentle and promises to strengthen and help me. 

*  1 Peter 4:12 - I will not be surprised by the trials that come upon me.

*  Psalm 119:9-16 - I can still participate in worship on Sundays by planning ahead and taking time before Sunday to read, study and meditate on Scripture so that during the distracting moments of Sunday mornings I can more easily worship with the congregation.

*  Romans 3:9-18 & 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - I can think rightly about my depravity and the temptation of my flesh by planning ahead to remove unnecessary burdens and stumbling blocks, such as unplanned breakfast and Sunday clothes not prepared the night before.