I’m not talking about the spiritual preparation that I’d like to be here…I’m talking about getting physically ready and making it to church on time (or at least somewhat close to on time).
Before our baby came along, my husband and I were on time most of the time. Sadly, I can’t say that we were always on time as we both love to catch just a few more minutes of church. And with a 9:00 am Sacrament meeting, that can spell trouble. But we did pretty well. Now we have a baby, and I’m amazed at how much more effort it takes to get to church on time.
The first week we took our baby to church, I got up early to prepare both myself and my little one. Things went smoothly. I got her fed, changed, dressed, and asleep. I got myself showered, dressed, and packed. We got to church five minutes early. Success.
So last week, I thought I’d try for a repeat performance. I got up at the same time and tried to follow the same process with our little girl. She was not having it. Schedules don’t mean anything to her yet and so she didn’t appreciate me waking her to feed her. Let’s just say that we ended up getting to church almost on time, but we did miss the opening hymn. And my hair was wet. And I forgot the tithing check.
So who knows what next week will bring. Once again I’ll attempt something similar (although I’ll give myself a little more time so I don’t have to go with wet hair). I’m just amazed as I look around the congregation and see the moms with multiple children to get ready in the morning—some without the help of husbands who are at early morning meetings. I like to think that I’ll eventually get a better handle on things and that getting to church will get easier, but I think that’s a myth. I think that the reality is that every week brings its own challenges that you can’t necessarily foresee. What happens this week may never happen again. I think the trick is to plan for SOMETHING to happen, and hopefully you’ll have enough time to deal with the unique challenge.
And with that, I need to go change both the baby’s clothing and mine—this week’s challenge just arrived.