More Than Just Being on Time for Church

Last year in April General Conference Russell M. Nelson gave a talk on the Sabbath that we have heard quoted from over and over again as we have been taught in lessons and sacrament meetings of the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. (April 2015 The Sabbath is a Delight)  Not too long after that conference a letter was read over the pulpit in our sacrament meeting stating  that we would soon be changing our meeting schedule so that sacrament meeting would be first, followed by our other classes.  One of the reasons given for this change was to improve reverence in sacrament meeting and to set a tone for the rest of the meetings that day. 

I remember hearing that and cheering inside, because I knew that it would be easier to keep my little ones happy in sacrament meeting when it was no longer at the end of the 3 hour block.  Then I had a realization.  It was going to be really really hard for me to be on time for sacrament meeting.  And because of my calling, (ward organist), it would be rather noticeable if I walked in late.  As it was, with 9:00 church and Relief Society first I quite often did not make it there early enough to play the opening song, let alone prelude music.  Sometimes I would walk in, feeling terrible, as everyone was already singing the opening song.  The Relief Society President was always so kind and understanding, but I always felt bad when I didn't make it.
 
And then our wonderful bishop issued a request of the ward. With the change in sacrament meeting time, he asked us to be there 10 minutes before the sacrament meeting even started, so that we could listen to the prelude music and prepare ourselves to take the sacrament.  How was I ever going to do it?  That meant having 6 children and myself ready to walk out the door for church by about 8:30am.

I came home that day and thought about things and a line from Elder Nelson's General Conference talk kept coming to my mind.  He said that as he went about his Sabbath, making choices on how to spend his time, he would always ask himself this question, "What Sign do I want to give to God?"

I decided right then that I wanted to make some changes to my Sabbath morning that would show my Heavenly Father first of all that I sustain my bishop and will always make every effort to do as he asks, but most importantly, I wanted to show Heavenly Father that I love him and want to do all I can to reverence his day, and make my Sunday meetings and partaking of the sacrament a more meaningful and spiritual experience for myself and my family. 

I began to prepare better on Saturday for the upcoming Sabbath.  I packed the diaper bag with snacks and activities, made sure all the Sunday clothes were clean, and most important….that we knew where all the Sunday clothes and shoes were.  I put a greater emphasis into getting the children to bed on time on Saturday night so that they would have an easier time waking up in the morning.  I also started going to sleep earlier myself on Saturday night.  We would leave family parties a little earlier when they happened on Saturday night as well.  I began to get up much earlier than I had in the past and get myself completely ready, fix a quick breakfast, then wake the kids so that they could start getting ready.

If we left the house by 8:40 we could be walking into the chapel at 8:50, sit down and be there for the prelude music.  We were able to keep this up right until the end of December when our time for church changed to 11am.  Needless to say, Sunday mornings have been much easier for me these last couple of weeks since the time changed.  We even are able to make time for family scriptures before church.

But, being on time for church is not the only blessing that came from my efforts.  After a number of weeks of the new schedule, and my renewed efforts to prepare for Sunday morning and be on time, I began noticing a difference in how I personally felt at church.  I was feeling the Spirit more.  I was learning more.  The talks seemed to be more for me.  I was experiencing more personal revelation as I sat in lessons.  I was feeling happier.  The spirit that I felt beginning right there at the beginning of sacrament meeting with the prelude music, and then the sacrament and the talks, was carrying into my other meetings.  That spirit was carrying into the rest of my day.  I  bear testimony that I know that preparing well for the Sabbath brings with it more blessings than just being on time for church.
 

My Sabbath

Today I spoke in sacrament meeting on the blessings of keeping the Sabbath day holy.  When the bishop asked me to speak a couple of weeks ago, that made me really pause and reflect on what the Sabbath is like in my home.  The Sunday following, I decided to write down my day. 
 
Here it is:
 
7:30am  Wake up.  Go downstairs and cut up veggies to add to the stew in the crockpot. 
After 15 minutes or so David and Sophia join me in the kitchen.  They peel carrots and make a great big mess with the peels, but are content to eat carrots while I finish up.  Then,  I fix breakfast for the little ones and leave them eating while I run up to take a shower.  While I am doing makeup and hair and trying to get dressed I hear David hollering and someone hands me a lip balm through the door.  He has pretty much eaten the whole thing.  For the next hour or so, big kids get up and we all finish eating and getting ready for church. I finish gathering things I need to teach a Primary lesson.  Clothes had been found the night before  so no surprises with missing shoes today.  Jerry comes home from his meetings and we have family scriptures and prayers so Nathan can leave early to help set up chairs at the church.  Thank you Brother M... for always picking him up.  It makes for one less thing for me to fit in on Sunday morning.

 

Time to leave for church.  Once there and settled in our bench, I take a deep breath and just listen.  Thanks to Brother P..., I just sit and listen to the prelude…and breathe.  I feel calm and peaceful.  Nobody had to go to the bathroom the second we stepped into the church building which often seems to happen.  I just sit there enjoying the music. 

 

We sing, we partake of the sacrament, we listen to the talks,  Our bench sometimes feels like a zoo.  I sit on a bunch of puzzle pieces when I come down from the stand after the sacrament song.  I just close my eyes and fold my arms ignoring the little whispers of  "Mom…you are sitting on my puzzle."  I will gather the pieces after the prayer.  We do all we can to keep our little ones happy and quiet.  We take at least two trips to the restroom that I can remember.  I'm so grateful to Jerry for being so quick to help with little ones in church.   We attend our classes. I substitute in Primary and have a great time.   After church our family crowds into the bishops office for Jacob to be set apart in a new Priesthood responsibility…priests quorum secretary. He heads out to do sacrament for the homebound.  The other kids and I head home after that. 

 

Time for food again.  David and Sophia need to eat as soon as we get home from church.  At least the older kids can wait until later when we have a family meal.  I get the little ones some leftover soup and cut up some cucumbers.  Sophia immediately spills soup on her skirt. We quickly take it off and clean it out under the tap so that it won't stain.  That reminds me to change David out of his white shirt and put on his "after church" shirt, so that he doesn't do the same.  Then I hear Sophia again…."ahhh Mom, it's on my shirt."  More soup on the clothes.  We now change the shirt and rinse that out too.  And did I mention the dirty diaper that happened somewhere in there?

 

Tummies full, Sophia and David are playing happily together, so I mix up biscuits to go with the stew.  Take a break for a few minutes to help the girls get on the computer to write emails to their brother, Benjamin on his mission.  Jerry and Jacob are not home yet so the girls and I make some cookies. 

 

It is now 4:00 and everyone is finally home.  We eat a wonderful filling meal together.  We talk about church.  We especially like the high councilman's talk.  He told some great stories.  The boys have a stake youth choir practice and Jerry has a meeting for the stake youth trek.  Then there is a youth fireside that night. Sophia fixes up a plate of cookies and takes them to the neighbors.  I have a fairly quiet evening at home reading stories to my kids, dressing baby dolls, building a train track, talking to my parents on the phone, and settling kids in bed. 

 

Little ones in bed, Jerry and the older kids come home from the fireside.  Everyone was hungry again, so while we all ate snacks we talked. We laughed a lot but we also talked about serious things.  We talked about missionary service, we talked about how the Lord blesses those who put a full time mission first. We talked about faith and putting the Lord first in your life.   We talked about funny things the kids heard at the fireside.  It was great.  Several times we said, we should just go up and go to bed.  But we didn't.  We just kept talking.  We were enjoying ourselves. 

 

When we finally went upstairs, Olivia to her room, the boys to theirs, I settled down on my bed and got out my scriptures and my phone so I could look up some things for this talk.  Then one of our big boys came in to our room.  He had some personal things he needed to talk about. When you live in a big family you sometimes have to wait until later in the evening to get Mom and Dad to yourself to talk about your concerns.  We try to make ourselves available for that as often as we can.  As we talked we heard strange noises coming from the girls room.  Emily came bursting in.  A cold had hit her very fast and she was gagging on mucous.  We got her into the bathroom, grabbed a bowl to catch the "you know what", cleaned her up, got some medicine, set up a makeshift bed out of blankets on our bedroom floor, and waited for her to settle down.  She fell asleep, we finished up with the other 'concerned' child. 

 

Totally exhausted, Jerry and I lay back on our pillows and talked.  We mostly talked about my upcoming talk.  I read some things on LDS.org about the Sabbath and reread some talks and scriptures.  Jerry and I talked about what the Sabbath is like for Moms, especially Moms of little children. 

 

The scriptures say that the Sabbath is a day of rest.…. not always for Moms. But that is ok.  Because the Sabbath is not my day; it is the Lord's day.  Is the Sabbath a blessing in my life?  Yes it is!!  I have a testimony that when we keep the Sabbath Day holy we come closer to Christ.  We can feel and understand the influence of the spirit more in our lives.  We are strengthened to be able to bear trials and temptations that come upon us throughout the week.  As we strive to help our children keep the Sabbath Day holy we help them to develop vital testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We help them to be able to have the influence of the Holy Ghost more in their lives.  As we send our children out to their activities and school throughout the week, they need the strength and direction that they get from keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, as they face daily decisions and difficult situations.

 

Yes!!!  The Sabbath is a great blessing.

 

Notes Near My Ceiling

Today I had a bit of a spring cleaning bug.  Not that spring is very close at all, but I have hated the filth on the tops of my kitchen cupboards for too long.  Today I decided to do away with it.  In all honesty, its been years since I've cleaned up there.  I so wish that I had taken before and after pictures, because what I found up there was both disgusting and hilarious. 

The dirt and greasy grime had combined up there to make a thick coating on the tops of the cupboards.  Apparently, my children, who are constantly standing up on my cupboards to get things off high shelves, discovered this grime long before I did.  What I found up there, besides the filth, was surprising.  The kids have been using their fingers to write in the grime.  Sometimes just their names,  sometimes an exclamation, and sometimes they were using the dirt to write little notes to each other.  Who knows how old some of these notes are.

Here are just a few of the scribblings I found on top of the cupboards:

"Hi Benj"

"Disgusting"

"Meet in basement"

"BYU Rocks"

….along with quite a few "signatures"

It took a lot of cleaner and scrubbing to get it all off, but I had a smile on my face while I did it, just thinking of my silly kids.