Seems like EVERY Sunday I get up, and look forward to church until about 2 hours before, and the stress of getting the kids ready, getting our lesson ready, getting ourselves ready in time stresses me to the point of just wanting to lay down and eat ice cream all day...I have to DRAG myself over to the church.....30' away. And during sacrament, most weeks, I get so stressed and worn out from keeping the kids still and quite that I want to again, go home, and eat ice cream all day (obviously my comfort food of choice). Then comes time to teach the 14, 15, and 16 year old Sunday school class, a class of anywhere from 12-18 kids. I used to dread this more than sacrament, but now I LOVE them. There is one kid, we call Nacho, and this week he bore an amazing testimony that totally shocked me. He's the smart allec of the class, and always full of some wise crack, but he was getting annoyed by the answer the girls in the back were giving to the question "how do you know there's a God?". And finally he raised his hand and told us how he has prayed strongly about it, and got a strong confirmation, by answer to his prayers and a strong feeling in his chest, and he knows that there just couldn't NOT be a God. Jason also bore testimony of how he knows God is real because he knows Satan is real...where he got a bit emotional. I love him!
Anyway, then every week, when I got to Relief Society, I write down a list of things I want to accomplish throughout the week, how to stregnthen our family and our marriage, and myself. It seems so easy as I write the list, but as the days of the week pass it gets harder and harder. I wish RS was every other day to help remind me.
My sister Randa found this amazing photograph by Mark Marbry and it wasn't even out for sale yet, but she got her hands on it (in color of coarse) and got it framed for my mom from us girls and it is the most amazing photo EVER. I can't wait to see it up in my parent's new house. It's one of those pictures that makes you feel so light inside, which has been a rare feeling for me lately.
5 comments:
I just got called to Primary and I will truly miss RS. If you are open to it, it really is such a great experience each week.
Maybe you're already doing this but I really think it helps to use Saturday as our prep day for Sunday. Plan, find, wash, iron and lay out all outfits including shoes. Take baths the night before. Pack diaper bags and activity bags, plan breakfast, anything you can do Saturday so that Sunday can go more smoothly.
I have also started telling myself that there is nothing more important than taking the sacrament. So if it's time to go and I havent ironed my dress or put my make-up on or found Cohen's shoes, I just go anyway because being there for the sacrament is more important than those things. It just kind of a good reminder of why we put the effort into church.
As a side note, why are you losing 17 more pounds? I thought you had gotten to your goal weight?
I feel the same way and I only have one kid. Plus I teach 9 crazy sunbeams. Church can be a lot of hard work, but it's worth it. Especially when Izzy decides to sing his version of "I am a child of God" at the top of his lungs during one of the talks in sacrament meeting.
I'm hoping someday to love church so much that I can't wait to be there every Sunday and when it's not hard work at all. Maybe I'll be 50, but I'm looking forward to it.
I guess you could just stop going. That's what some of my friends decided to do when the got moved to 2:00 church. I would have loved to have you and Jason for my S.S. teachers when I was that ages. Instead we had this cook that was always predicting the second coming and telling us to buy our hiking boots for the trek to Missouri. Wacko!
That M.M picture literally makes ,e cry every time I see it. Just the expressions on their faces says so much. I like to think that's what it was really like.
You are so great Kristal. I like what Jill said. I dread church the night before usually and I don't have 3 kids to get dressed. I can honestly say my priorities are all out of whack because I dread it becasue I don't fit into my clothes and my hair has been utterly decimated by pregnancy. Isn't that stupid? Anyway, I relate and should try to focus on the importance of the sacrament. (though that might make it even easier for me to want to bail after the first hour and go sleep at home with the baby...)
Ok, I guess I should clarify....as you guys all know, sacrament meeting is ok for the first 15 minutes (the actual sacrament) but then they start to get restless and bored, and I go nuts. Anyway, what I was trying to say by this post is how much I LOVe the feeling I get from RS, and I wish it were every other day so I could better keep that feeling with me through the week. I don't want to quit going to church...ok ok some weeks I do, but not usually
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