Once on Mother’s Day when I was a little kid, we were scurrying out the door to get to Sunday morning church on time. My Dad was the worship leader, so he was already gone and my mom was stuck getting us three boys out the door.
As we were jumping in the car and about to finally leave our house, my mom started to back out the car from the garage, but I didn’t have the car door closed yet. Next thing we knew, the car door had wrecked the garage door track and the car door wouldn’t close.
So, there my mom is on Mother’s Day, in her Mother’s Day dress, hammering the garage door track so we could at least close one of the doors. In all the craziness and chaos, do you know what?
We still made it to church.
I was brought up knowing that we never missed church unless we were sick or out of town. We would do everything to get there. As a kid, that regular rhythm felt so normal and important. Sure, I did not have much of a choice of what I did, but I knew being at church was going to happen no matter what.
When I was in middle school and high school, my parents had us serving on Sunday mornings, so it wasn’t just something we went to, but something we were a part of. When I went off to college, the first Sunday I was on my own, you know what I did? I went to church.
It had been instilled in me consistently for 18 years that I knew that the local church was the place to go.
I believe that having that regular rhythm of stopping what you are doing and engaging in worship with friends or family actually changes your life. Almost 20 years since I moved off to college and about 30 years since that Mother’s Day, I still have the regular rhythm of Sunday morning worship.
Yes, I work at the church, but I wouldn’t miss it even if I didn’t. It isn’t just a rhythm that keeps me in sync, but it is a habit that has compounded over the years. I am better because of it. I crave to gather with others, to sing songs of the faith, to grow and learn, and to see that church isn’t just something you go to, it is something we are, something we are a part of.
All these years later, I struggle to get my kids out the door. I’ve yet to be in my driveway on Mother’s Day in a dress swinging a hammer, but I have had my fair share of chaotic moments to say the least. But my family always does everything we can to continue the habit of going to worship together.
When our family journeys to worship, I know that (if I’m willing) God can and will do amazing things in that time and space with my heart. I know that after worship we will have conversations about the music, the sermon, what my kids learned about, and how these things change the way that we live, the way we experience God, and the way that we love others.
Church shouldn’t be something on your to-do list, it is something you are a part of, so engaging with it should be second nature, not something to cross off. I believe if you make Sunday morning worship a weekly habit for yourself (and your family), you are helping to create habits that will impact you and those who you influence.
Pick up a new habit, a habit that pushes you to sometimes be swinging a hammer in a dress on Mother’s Day. There is always an excuse to not go, to not engage, to just say “we’ll catch it online.” But I believe the community that is developed and the faith that is deepened from this habit makes life a little better. And isn’t that what we all want?
Make life better. Make church a habit this year.