An Above Rubies reader wrote and asked me, "Have you ever had difficulty
sitting in church with many little ones? I wonder if it is just our season
to stay home and not even bother attending church since we are so busy
handling the little ones. Were you ever in this season in your life?"

I know how you feel. Many times when my children were little, I wondered
whether it was worth going to church too. However, I realized that church
was more than sitting in a building listening to the pastor. Church is not a
building; it is the people. Therefore, when you go to church, dear mother,
even if you spend your whole time in the nursery, or much of your time
training your children to sit in church, it is still worth it.

You are doing three things. Firstly, you have the opportunity to fellowship
with others. Fellowship with other mothers in the nursery, if you end up
there, can be very precious. It is as important as listening to a message.
You can also share with others and pass on a blessing or a little
encouragement to another mother. Remember, you don't go to church to get,
but to give-and preeminently to give a blessing.

By the way, you'll be seeking to train your little ones to sit in church,
but if you need to go to the nursery, stay with your children. Many toddlers
are very unhappy in the nursery because they miss their mothers.

Secondly, you are training your children to sit in church. This is your aim.
It sure takes a lot of training, but if you stay home, your children will
learn that you do NOT have a commitment to church. If you go, even if it
isn't all perfect, and you don't even get to hear the preacher, you are
accomplishing something. You are showing by your actions to your children
that you put God first in your lives and that it is important to fellowship
with the saints. You show that God is a priority in your lives. You show to
your children your commitment to God and to His people.

You take seriously the admonition in Hebrews 10:25, "Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is: but exhorting
one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." My husband
said to me recently, "Many people want the church to be there for them but
they are not there for the church!"

Thirdly, you are following the example of Jesus whose habit was to go to the
house of God. We need to keep to this habit in our own lives and to
establish this habit in the lives of our children. If our children see that
we decide to stay home from church for whatever reason, when they are older,
they will stay home for even less reasons.

We have never missed going to church as a family-rain, hail or snow! And
even when we were sick. It's the best place to get healed!

Luke 4:16 says: "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and,
as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood
up for to read."

Keep plodding on. It's not always easy, but you are doing the right thing.
Never stay away from church just because the children aren't perfect. That
is a defeatist attitude. And it won't always be like that. Your children
grow up.

We expected our children to be in church every Sunday morning and Sunday
evening. We lived in New Zealand when the children were young, and they
slept on sheep skins (which are so healthy). I would bring their sheep skins
with me to the evening service and lay them on the floor and they would
sleep on them as they got tired.  

Psalm 26:8: "LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place
where thine honor dwelleth."

Psalm 27:4: "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple."

Psalm 50:5: "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a
covenant with me by sacrifice."

PRAYER:
"Thank you, Father, that You delight to gather Your people together to
worship You. Help me to always be faithful to the gathering together of the
saints. Help me to be an example to our children that You are the most
important in our lives and that we always put Your first, no matter what the
situation. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:
I will always give my children a love for the house of God.