For my family Sunday was always awesome. I could wake and before I got myself ready, I would begin to get the kids all ready. Brushing their hair, with each stroke until I had it up in one of their favorite bows. The boys seemed to be able to dress themselves and always looked so nice,asking"Does this match?" With all seven of us getting into the car, we would be on our way to church.Some rides to church were uneventful, when others took every ounce of patience you had. When they were small we took up the whole pew, but as they got older we had two. One for us, and extra space for the boyfriends and girlfriends. It was a time that I treasure. Listening to my daughters sing, giving praise to the Lord gave me great joy. Watching them turn the pages of their bibles while Bro. Ben spoke the from the Word of God. It is amazing to watch your children grow up in church and outgrow a pew. Today it is my husband and I along with our son who sit in the pew. I remember the first day we went to church without all of our children. It was so hard to walk through the doors, and then to sit down in the same pew you knew was only filled earlier. It wasn't the same, and it never is once your children out grow the pew and move on with their own lives. To watch our children be baptised, to watch them take that first step is a picture I will never forget. At Easter we would have a cross service. We would have a big cross, and each of us could come forward, nailing in a nail with a hammer into the cross that was meant for us. It was a solemn service, tears were on the cheeks of those who felt the pain that our Savior went through. I remember our oldest daughter coming to me, taking my hand and asking,"Rob, will you go with me?" I took her hand as we walked up and hammered in our nails. To have a child take your hand and say,"Mom will you go pray with me?" is a blessing. Our children grew up in those pews, laughing, crying, singing, and learning. Our youngest son asked to go to the bathroom one day. Someone was in the upper bathroom, and he thought he would get in trouble if he went downstairs alone, so he just went outside, and decided to pee right there off the church steps! We have so many memories of our church pew and the family inside those doors. It's funny, we often want change, but when change comes we are not too settled about it. Our oldest daughter married in our church. It was a wonderful day full of joy and sadness, knowing she was marrying brought joy,but as my husband would give her away brought sadness, to place her hand in anothers shook him greatly.Although we were proud, we knew that change was right here infront of us. She began her own path after that, a new life with another. Our pew holds many sights and sounds that we will hold in our hearts forever. To sing with my daughters was a great joy, to have voices that seem to carry right out the doors. We watched them grow in Awana, we watched them in plays every year at Christmas time. To share in worship with your children is a gift from the Lord. We watched our children go from bows to walking down the aisle, to leaving our pew and being out on their own. It is all part of a growing family. Now as they are all on their own, in different phases of life, new beginnings with some ending we pray for our children to fill their own pew with their own children. Our lives are filled with many blessings, but our filled pew has to be one at the top of the list for me..Wednesday, August 26, 2009
sitting in the pew
For my family Sunday was always awesome. I could wake and before I got myself ready, I would begin to get the kids all ready. Brushing their hair, with each stroke until I had it up in one of their favorite bows. The boys seemed to be able to dress themselves and always looked so nice,asking"Does this match?" With all seven of us getting into the car, we would be on our way to church.Some rides to church were uneventful, when others took every ounce of patience you had. When they were small we took up the whole pew, but as they got older we had two. One for us, and extra space for the boyfriends and girlfriends. It was a time that I treasure. Listening to my daughters sing, giving praise to the Lord gave me great joy. Watching them turn the pages of their bibles while Bro. Ben spoke the from the Word of God. It is amazing to watch your children grow up in church and outgrow a pew. Today it is my husband and I along with our son who sit in the pew. I remember the first day we went to church without all of our children. It was so hard to walk through the doors, and then to sit down in the same pew you knew was only filled earlier. It wasn't the same, and it never is once your children out grow the pew and move on with their own lives. To watch our children be baptised, to watch them take that first step is a picture I will never forget. At Easter we would have a cross service. We would have a big cross, and each of us could come forward, nailing in a nail with a hammer into the cross that was meant for us. It was a solemn service, tears were on the cheeks of those who felt the pain that our Savior went through. I remember our oldest daughter coming to me, taking my hand and asking,"Rob, will you go with me?" I took her hand as we walked up and hammered in our nails. To have a child take your hand and say,"Mom will you go pray with me?" is a blessing. Our children grew up in those pews, laughing, crying, singing, and learning. Our youngest son asked to go to the bathroom one day. Someone was in the upper bathroom, and he thought he would get in trouble if he went downstairs alone, so he just went outside, and decided to pee right there off the church steps! We have so many memories of our church pew and the family inside those doors. It's funny, we often want change, but when change comes we are not too settled about it. Our oldest daughter married in our church. It was a wonderful day full of joy and sadness, knowing she was marrying brought joy,but as my husband would give her away brought sadness, to place her hand in anothers shook him greatly.Although we were proud, we knew that change was right here infront of us. She began her own path after that, a new life with another. Our pew holds many sights and sounds that we will hold in our hearts forever. To sing with my daughters was a great joy, to have voices that seem to carry right out the doors. We watched them grow in Awana, we watched them in plays every year at Christmas time. To share in worship with your children is a gift from the Lord. We watched our children go from bows to walking down the aisle, to leaving our pew and being out on their own. It is all part of a growing family. Now as they are all on their own, in different phases of life, new beginnings with some ending we pray for our children to fill their own pew with their own children. Our lives are filled with many blessings, but our filled pew has to be one at the top of the list for me..
