Get Me To The Church On Time

The kids and I were late to church this Sunday.  Have you ever been late to church? (I assume this is a rhetorical question.)  Since we can all relate, I'd like to start a conversation about how you get to church on time. 

And this is probably a timely discussion because…

This Sunday the children’s Christmas choir (4 yr olds-6^th grade) will be performing in both services.  So we are asking families to get to church a little early this Sunday so we'll have time to arrange the kids before going on stage. 

There are probably some of us that would say it is harder to get the family to church early than it is to pass a camel through the eye of a needle.  But surely it’s not impossible.  For goodness sake, we have the power of GOD on our side, right!?   “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

How do you get your family to church on time?

In the Livingston home, have a pretty solid routine.   Saturday we pretty much wrap up whatever we are doing and make sure we are home, eating dinner and taking showers by 5:30.   We roll a die to see which boy showers first, because naturally they try to argue about it.  The dice idea was Matt's - it's just a little parenting judo.  We try to head off all disasters before they happen.  We lay out the Sunday clothes before going to bed.  It is early to bed, early to rise for us on Saturdays and Sundays.  Kids are in bed by 8:00pm Sat and up by 7:00am Sunday.  In the mornings, nobody plays until they are fully ready.  The first person ready often earns extra screen time for the week. 

But this last weekend was more like a comedy of errors than a well oiled machine at our house.  Our good plans went up in smoke.  We were out Christmas shopping Saturday afternoon when, on the way home, someone had to pee.  NOW.  Did you know CVS doesn’t have a public restroom?  And evidently our kids don’t really like peeing in the bushes, at night, in a parking lot.  Who knew? They sure like to pee in the bushes at home!  So after going on a “searching for a potty adventure”, we were home 30 minutes later than expected.  There was only time for 3 kids to shower before bed.   It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but the little snowball of chaos grew…

In the morning nothing went according to plan.  It started when our sweet little girl refused to take a bath because she really wanted to “stay stinky”.  After that fun discipline issue, Matt left early so he could start the Sunday morning duties at church on time.  And so here I was alone … and we all know how children try to go crazy on Sunday mornings, forgetting all rules and common sense.  Here are a few things I actually found myself saying:

“Don’t lock your brother out on the porch!”

“Stop squirting your sister!”

“Nobody is riding that bicycle inside the house.”

And after seeing one boy bouncing down the hall on our giant exercise ball:

“Put. Your. Pants. On.  NOW!”

So, this Sunday when you think about getting your kids to church early for their performance, know that we all understand what it takes.  Plan ahead.  Have a strategy.  Stay strong.

Go to our Facebook group: “VCC Families” and join the conversation:

“How do you get to church on time?”