MVJ vs. Church

MVJ has been a little stinker lately for us during Church. The service we choose to go to happens to land right after her morning nap, so we feel like we're good to go. She loves listening to the music. She loves when we're standing up. She does NOT like so much the sitting down and being quiet. For a few Sundays in a row now, I've taken her into the Nursery for about a half hour. I'm hoping that she'll warm up to it and be ready to hang out there by herself in a little bit. She LOVES other kiddos -- babies, young children, slightly older kids, etc. And our Nursery has toys! Toys she hasn't seen! And swings! And bumbos! What more could an ALMOST SEVEN MONTH OLD (what?!) want?

I've also signed up to help out in the nursery. I took the plunge. Well, for goodness sakes, I'm in there anyways, I might as well be helping out, right? There was a potluck this Sunday to kick off the young families ministry. A little four-year-old girl came right up to us and started chatting with MVJ. Our conversation went something like this:

Her: "She is beeeautiful!"
Me: "She loves kiddos."
H: "What's a kiddo?"
M: "You're a kiddo!"
H: "You're silly!"

Later, when MVJ started fussing, she ran over to us and started singing to MVJ. It was just about the cutest thing ever. MVJ kind of stopped and just stared at her. The little girl ran back to her Mom and said, "My singing HELPED!"

JJ's Trip

JJ recently returned from his first solo trip since... well, for sure since MVJ came into this world and quite possibly the first since we've been married. He attended this little old conference called Willow Creek Leadership Summit. You may have heard of it. I'm so glad he got the opportunity to go as he came back so refreshed in his faith and with lots of great ideas of things to do to make a difference in our area (as well as a large book list to check out). While there, he got to hear simulcasts from Bono and Tony Blair and listen to lots of speakers "in house" including Wess Stafford (pres. of Compassion International) and an advisor to four presidents.

While he was gone, however, I was a "single parent". It seems that MVJ sensed something was different and was very good -- except at night. The first night she woke up about every three hours. STINKER! We know she can do better than that, so I'm not sure what was up. My good friends in the area weren't content to let me stay in my pjs all day and wallow in my single-parentedness, so I spent quality time with the B's, the J's (including mom NA), and MM. I even got to meet with the two teachers I'll be working closely with next year (the new-to-7th grade specialist KB and new RT LH) and had two summer kiddo events thrown in there. I never sleep very well when JJ isn't there and this time was no different, but by the last night I was up to being able to lay down without putting the timer on the TV so I could fall asleep to noise. (Maybe it had something to do with MVJ being up every three hours that first night!! I was tired!) The days flew by and in no time it seemed JJ was knocking on the door at 5:15 am (after a whole night of driving).

Prayer

At Bible Study last Tuesday, we were talking about the discipline of prayer. It was a very thought-provoking study and I thought our leaders did an awesome job of humbly talking about their own goals and sometimes shortcomings when dealing with prayer. Here are some of the key points we talked about. Do you have any hints or insights to add for developing a meaningful prayer life?

*There are two kinds of prayer: the scheduled, daily "stuff" --- like prayer before meals, maybe a devotion before bedtime that you do every night, etc. and the ongoing, sporadic prayer --- we should be in constant communication with God and live our lives in such a way that it is a prayer uplifted to God. For this type, I always remember part of a sermon by Pastor P, who compared this type of prayer to being married (of course, this example is, or should be, to a much different degree) --- you are married to your spouse, but you are not with your spouse 24/7, but you should live in such a way that is honoring to your spouse, maybe show outward signs that you are married, and talk about your spouse and let others meet your spouse, etc, etc.

*Some reasons why people don't pray as much as they should, or would like to: some people believe prayers aren't answered or that God will do what He wants anyways so why bother, some people get into the busyness of life and forgot to ask God/praise God/tell God about it, people feel inexperienced or don't feel they know how to pray effectively, etc.

*There are tons of places in the Bible that focus on prayer (we looked at a few of them) -- Jesus prayed all the time, the disciples tell others that prayer is uberimportant and people in the OT knew to lift up their prayers to God. One spot (now I can't remember which verses...) basically said that God would've healed this person sooner but there was no one interceding on his behalf. So, he still healed the person (as per His plan), but it would've been quicker had people been praying for this person.


I know JJ and I always plan to do specific devotionals and lots of times they fall by the wayside after a few days or weeks. Then it gets frustrating. JJ often likes to pray by himself and I prefer to pray outloud together. It's definitely a balancing act of finding ways that work but making sure to give God the time He deserves. At one time I was very faithful about listening to a Bible podcast. It was awesome - this guy shared a bit about the passage (one or two chapters from the OT, one psalm, a few verses of Proverbs and a half of a chapter to a whole chapter from the NT) and then read it. It was interesting and got me digging into my Bible. But, after a few months it became something on my "to-do list" and that made me get frustrated at myself, thus negating what I had set out to do in the first place. I think if I would've concentrated my prayers on asking God to bless this time it would've been more fruitful.

Anyways, just some random thoughts about prayer.