By Sunday morning I had slept about 45 minutes in a three day span. Please don’t panic. This has been a normal occurrence in my life since high school. My husband was fresh off a 24 hour shift without sleep. I think added together the two of us had the brain power of a three year old. We were saying nonsensical things, laughing at farts, looking through the cabinet for cookies for breakfast, and I had a major meltdown when my favorite shoes went missing. What better place to visit in this mental state then church.
As usual The Siren began to wail as soon as we walked in the building. The nursery workers are very kind and reassure me this is all very normal and some day she will stop crying (perhaps I should tell them her nickname). At any rate, they tell me to keep bringing her back. And I do. The Kraken had to be bribed to enter his class not because he is scared but because he knows that mommy and daddy enjoy this hour of childfree time together and will offer almost anything for a smooth transition in front of the other moms and dads. The bribing probably speaks volumes about my parenting skills or perhaps the power of curly hair and a dimple, but frankly I am doing the best I can.
The sermon, which, I’m not going to lie, my mind wandered into and out of, was about identifying and resisting the devil’s attempts to sneak into our lives. As for the resisting part it was suggested we simply tell the devil to SHUTUP! That seems simple enough. When he pops into my head and tells me I am a bad mother or fat or incompetent, I yell SHUTUP! to the liar and move on. I can handle that.
The pastor, who really isn’t as looney as perhaps I am making him sound, made the point that when the devil infiltrates areas of our lives it can be very subtle. For example, worrying about the mundane everyday tasks of what we will eat or what we will wear or where we will go can, for some, take over the whole day, leaving no room to see what Christ is showing us each day. As a mother, I can attest that sometimes I am too overwhelmed by keeping to our schedule and moving from one activity to another, that I forget to look around and enjoy the day He has made for me and my children to explore together.
By this point in the sermon however, I was getting really antsy. Exhaustion had finally taken over and I just couldn’t process anything more. And being told not to worry about what I will eat got me, well, worrying about what I will eat. Every Sunday after church we go out to lunch as a family. It is one of the favorite parts of my week. (I don’t have to come up with it, cook it or clean up after it.) I leaned over to my wonderful husband and asked what he would like for lunch today.
To which he replied, “I think I am supposed to tell you to SHUTUP!”
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