This post will surely step on some toes, this I am aware of. I am not writing this to do so, I am writing it because it’s been stirring in my spirit for YEARS, and it has to come out.
Picture this. Your week as a Mother is trying, your husband is working late hours. One or two of your children are pushing every boundary they can think of. By Friday, you’re just glad you made it through the week alive. You are beaten down, worn out and just plain exhausted. Saturday comes and goes like a whirl wind, and soon your weekend is over. Basketball games, cheer leading camps. Birthday parties all crammed into one weekend.
Then comes Sunday. Often times Sunday after worship service is literally you’re only break during the chaos of the week.
But this Sunday you are teaching four year olds. 8 of them.
You grab your coffee, and your own children, and head back to the classroom where you will be until the service is over. Again pouring your energy out onto children. Maybe some yours, maybe some you’ve never met.
You’re spent. You watch the clock. You refill your coffee. You try to stay focused on the lesson plan when all you want to do is cut the lights off and have mandatory nap time.
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Please hear me out. I fully believe that servant hood is where revival starts. It’s how leaders are made. They start low and humble. They do the dirty work. Wash a few toilets before they are up on the pulpit.
Servant hood begins behind the scenes, where most likely no one knows your name. What you are doing is in secret. Serving with love, not recognition.
So, why is it that you see Mothers in the trenches of Motherhood running the nurseries, and teaching the young children?
I think it’s because we feel an obligation to serve where our children are being served. It makes complete sense to me. This I understand. But I also know that most mothers that have young children at home would rather be having their hour break with other adults, listening to a sermon that may just get them through the next week.
Serving isn’t supposed to be FUN , or glorified.
But when you are dealing with your own young children all week long, the last thing that you have energy for is more children.
What is in my heart for Momma’s everywhere is to see them in the service. Worshiping, taking notes, getting refreshed.
Then who would be serving in the nursery you ask?
The responsible teenagers, the retired Grandmothers, the newlywed couples.
NOT the worn out Mothers.
When you are placed in a position to give out, often times Mothers don’t have anymore to give after a long week. Heck, even if the week is GOOD, they are still seeking some adult time.
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What if churches placed you to serve where you would thrive in your walk with the Lord?
Even when I ask myself this question now, Rachel… where would you thrive serving right now in this season of your life?
My answer is in my own home.
I serve three meals a day. I serve and serve and serve all day long.
So when a Mother of young children comes to church on Sundays, serve her for a change. Get her some coffee. Show her where the nursery is.
Motherhood is hard work. Church shouldn’t be a place you dread because of more hard work. It should be a place where you feel relief as soon as you walk through those doors.
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The day is coming where my children will be older. I will have more strength, stamina and energy.
I want with all my heart to serve in so many areas of the church, but it is physically impossible for me to do so. I want to be up at the front each Sunday after service to prophecy over people, pray for them, and love on them. But each time I do I have a crying, hungry child. One that wants to tap me on the butt every five seconds.
There are things that will just have to wait.
We ARE serving the church by teaching our children to follow the Lord.
Seasons come and go, and they are only little for so long. You are only exhausted for so long, then soon you get a breath of fresh air, some strength, and you can serve again.
