In the church community we call the day the congregation gathers to spruce up the interior and exterior of the grounds, "Work Day." Some congregations do this more often than others, but it's a needed effort, even when a congregation can pay a maintenance staff to work throughout the year. Going to Work Day the last time does not aleviate your needed hands, and mind, and help this time. Your own house needs constant "this time" help. So does God's House!
It’s Work Day at my church, but I’m in Missouri for a wedding. Habits HURT when they are broken, and it is our habit to be at Work Day! I say "our," because I’m thinking about when I would take 2 and 3 year old Morgan and Madison to Work Day.
Parents with small children, I KNOW it’s stressful, and even feels like you don’t get much accomplished, but I promise the couple of hours you put in FAR OUTLIVE the time you and your children were on site. It does far more than the "partial jobs" you might contribute because you’ve had to leave it to wrangle a wondering child. When you do this stage properly (by building Kingdom-first habits) you get to BASK in my present stage of being the mom of young adults who habitually weigh all their decisions by God's scales! I am living out such goodness right now in my 18 and 20 year old children!
Do you know WHY our (carnal) world/society came up with, "take your child to work day?" It is because even they know how longterm-productive such a "non-productive" day is! If they have that much insight, shouldn’t WE?
I must add the impressions we leave on our teen offspring when we take them to a non-kingdom event though the church has something scheduled. It says to them, "You can pick-and-choose your faithfulness." Perhaps your family needs a family-away day. If your teens know you're ALWAYS at EVERY church event, and they see and hear your lament at being forced to choose another event, I think that's fine. But it should be so rare it doesn't happen more than once a year. It's not as if the church calls all-hands-on-deck for a Work Day every week. I would suggest spending the first hour of the family day contributing at the Work Day, before heading out to enjoy family time. It instills in very impressionable teens: kingdom-first (kingdom-first, of course means, God-first.) I often hear great men and women of God say about their upbringing (if they were raised in a church community) "My parents were at the church every time the doors were open!" They do not merely mean "when the doors were open for a worship service." They mean their parents modeled for them how to WORK for God, give their talent and time to God. This has been the example I have tried to follow because I want Morgan and Madison to be THAT in the Kingdom of God. "That" doesn't just happen. It's cultivated by parenting on and with a purpose.
Today, with my adult children who are still fluttering about my nest, we will have a conversation after the wedding here in Missouri, about how our contribution at Work Day was missed. We will talk about how much we would have benefitted, and how the Work Day would have benefitted by our three sets of hands and feet. We are out of state, but God's House's to do list is not out of mind.
TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Why? Because habits HURT when they are broken, and these kinds of habits will be a safeguard in our babies' lives as they go through the many stages and trials life brings.
