Bring 'Em When They're Little: a post about football games and family worship

As I drink my coffee this morning and prepare myself for attending church with my brood of littles, I'm thinking about all the other Moms who are gearing up to do the same thing. 

{Sunday morning pep talk, y'all}: We can do this, ladies! 

We can pack all the crayons and stuff our church bags with quiet toys and find that missing socks' mate with grit and determination because we know that by enduring the craziness that comes along with 2.5 hours of Bible class and worship we are installing an example of our priorities in our children. We may miss most of the sermon, our blood pressure may be peaking by the last song and at the end of worship our pew may look like a tsunami hit it, BUT WE WERE THERE with our families, attending and showing them that there's no place we'd rather be on the first day of the week than with our church family worshipping Christ who saved dirty, rotten sinners like us. 

My most important job is to point my kids to Heaven, and in my opinion, it's never too early to start showing them the roadmap to get there. 

People sometimes comment that bringing small children to worship is pointless because they are "too young" to understand it. They say that they'll bring their kids to church when they're old enough to sit still or tall enough to see the song leader or smart enough to read their own bulletins. 

But I want to challenge that message with this thought: Do they watch sports with their young kids? Because I know we do. We're huge football fans and there are plenty of times that we watch games as a family- even with our brood of three littles who are 4, 2, and 1 years old. 

They can't comprehend the in's and out's of trick plays and quarterbacks and defensive linemen, but we don't shoo them out the room to other places because they're "too young" to understand it all. We explain it to them- sometimes more than once each game. (And by we, I really mean my husband, Matt. Because until we got married almost 10 years ago I was still pretty foggy on the whole offense vs. defense thing. True story, y'all. I am a football newbie.) We don't make them go into another room to play until they're old enough to discuss BCS rankings or the fine art of a perfectly executed onsides kick. We pull them into our laps and teach them while we watch. We pause the game to explain field goals and point out the path of a flying football. We talk about the separate teams' colors and discuss who our players are and how to spot them on the field. 

And y'all, that's what we do during worship, too. 

We whisper in our big kid's ears every Sunday about communion and song leading and baptisms and responses for prayer. We show them how to flip through song books and our Bibles to find our places. They get to look through our bulletins and Bible class handouts during the sermons while we attempt to focus on the lesson because we are TEACHING them how to worship. 

And while parts of the services will surely fly right over my youngest's head, I can know assuredly that even so, he's young enough to recognize our love for Jesus through our efforts. We may have to take turns escaping out the back doors with that fussy 1 year old, but even so, he will grow up understanding where we placed priority because we sacrificed our schedules and our social events and sometimes our sanity to put the effort into our church attendance and participation every week. And that's what makes all the blood, sweat, and tears that can be will be shed while we attend worship and Bible classes and song services and prayer meetings with our kids worth it. 

So the next time you're hesitant to pile the kids in your van and take up pew space for a couple of hours because they're "too young" to understand, think about football- and your priorities- and focus on The One that won't be over at the end of 4 Quarters. Worship gives our kids access to Christ for eternity. And there's no better overtime than that.

"I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." - John  (3 John 1:4)