Friday 15 October 2010

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A call to go back to church...

Ever since J dropped his naps down from 2 times a day to 1 time a day when he was around 15 months old, it has been real tough for me to plan to make it to church on Sundays. Thus, I have not been to church for the last 4 months.

Our church service starts at 1pm, which is smacked right in the middle of his nap time. I would try to wait for J to wake up, and by the time he woke up, I would be way too late for church. Or he would not wake up at all and would sleep pass 2pm, which means that it would be totally pointless to go to church. Thus, I just chose to stay at home. My Significant Other is at home. And of course, I could choose to leave J at home with my Significant Other and go to church. However, as I already feel that I don't get to see J much during the weekdays, since I am a working mom, weekends are so precious. I just want to optimize the time I have with J, and don't want to go to church if I can't bring him along with me. I couldn't drive to church, because he would wake up right away, if I transfer him from the pram to the car-seat. I also couldn't take the train, as he would wake up right away, the moment we enter the train, due to the temperature difference. And I won't consider him missing his nap on Sundays to go to church, as he would be so cranky and hard to manage. Thus, I am in a real fix over how to solve this nap-church problem.

Today, as I sat down to make a detailed "19 months Toddler's Schedule/Routine" for J, I found the solution.

I could try to move J's nap time up earlier on Sunday. That means that I will give him an early lunch at 10.30am and put him to nap at 11am in his pram. Then I will start walking for 2 hours to church with him in the pram, so that he can fall asleep in the pram. I would walk and walk, while he is sleeping in the pram. When I reach church at 1pm, it will be around the time he is waking up from his nap as his nap usually lasts for 2 hours. Then that will be perfect timing. We will then arrive church, and he will be totally fresh from his nap, all ready for the church service :-)

When J was a baby, I would wake up very early in order to be able to fit in all his naps, and then I would walk for 1.5 hour to 2 hours to the baby-gym class, while J was napping in the pram. He would wake up fresh for the class. With the exception of very few parents who have super-easy babies, most parents in the class would struggle with babies who were cranky or there would always be a certain number of parents who could not show up for the class each week due to these problems with napping and cranky babies. However, I would always be able to make it there every week and make my money's worth, since I walked there while J was napping. That was the extent I was willing to sacrifice in order that J would make it for his baby-gym class, because I believe that the baby-gym class is very important for his stimulation, and thus his development.

God reminded me gently saying, "E, you said that I am the most important person in your life, and that your wish is that J will grow up knowing me. If you could walk for 1.5 hours to 2 hours to the gym-class for J, why would you not be able to walk 1.5 hours to 2 hours to go to church for Me?"

I reflected... indeed without doubt, God is the most important person in my life. Without God, I wouldn't be who I am today. He created me and He saved my life. He has even given us our precious J. And I truly want J (and my Significant Other) to personally experience God and His goodness, the way I have personally experienced it. But my actions aren't reflecting it, and I am not showing a good model example.

I have made up my mind that starting from this Sunday, I will walk 1.5 - 2 hours to church for God and J. And I shall thrive to be doing this until the day J drops his final nap.

I want to thank all those people who are praying for me, Nora, who has been praying that I will return to church... Ying, who has been enquiring about me... Joycelyn, who has been gently mentioning that she has not seen me in church, since I was the person, who first brought her to church.

"Dear God, I want to commit my hectic Sunday and weekly schedule to you, and commit to you all my plans. You know that it hasn't been easy for me to juggle work, family, life and You. You know my daily struggles and challenges. But You have been with me and granted me courage thus far. In all my tiredness, You have sustained me and granted me strength. Please help me to persevere on to achieve it. I strive to excel in my life for You. In Jesus' most precious name, Amen."

1 comment:

  1. Love u! My dear sister! Thanks for sharing!! We love u! <3 <3

    ReplyDelete

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