rest.

it was so nice to get to go away this weekend with a friend. i actually slept through the night last night. my kids are not great sleepers. it seems like every night i am awakened by at least one of them. it's not fun. however, as they get older they seem to make up for all of their lost sleep and want to hibernate for days. as i am reflecting on the past two days i am thoughtful of tomorrow. as believers, we begin our week with Rest. yes, we start our week with Rest and we live the remainder of the week with an eye and heart to "entering our Rest" again with the approaching week. REST. it means so much to me right now. when i was growing up, different leaders would say, "you come to church to perform for an audience of One." i understood that they were saying, "don't worry about others around you. just worship the Lord who sees you." the problem, however, is this- We come to Worship to see God perform. He is speaking. He is giving us gifts (communion, baptism, community). His Glory is on display. We even worship as receivers. Thanks be to God! So tomorrow morning, as you get the kids dressed, fed, listen to the arguing that comes naturally in families, grab your coffee, and as you run out the door, remember- it is worth it. Why? Because the God of the universe, the One who formed you and chose you, says, "Come unto Me & I will GIVE you REST."

tonight

tonight, like every other night, i am up way to late. i have noticed that the older my children get the greater demands there seem to be. i am using demands in the sense of non-negotiables. we have more to discuss, organize, manage and create. as our oldest learns greater responsibility, which frees us to a certain degree, we have to deal with the fact that our child that requires more care requires more time. so there is a give and take, but as you all know, it often feels like more is being taken. however, i have caught myself today- in middle of setting the table, doing the dishes, typing a blog, pausing to be caught up in the reality of God's unfailing love toward me. I have been absorbed today in the idea of being seen and captured by the Lord of this Universe. I have unwillingly focused today on the fact that we are a part of a Greater Story...one that we are not the center of. We are clay. He is the Potter. i must admit that over the past several years, i have come to empathize with the immigrant. One who's native land is foreign to the place where he or she resides. i am speaking in a spiritual sense. when i woke up the day after my dad died- everything looked different. not bad- just sharper. things that had my attention the day before didn't seem quite as pressing the day after. that's how i feel today. Aware. akward and a little clumsy...but Awake.
now- i need sleep.

Worship - Part 1

This past week I spoke @ MOPS. I have never been to a Mom's of Preschoolers meeting. This was the last formal meeting of the year so they had a guest speaker...me! Multi-generations were represented because the Mom Mentors were also at the meeting. I was given the topic: Balancing It All...which morphed into: Balancing the Right Things. The pre-morph topic felt a little too abstract to me- like using a debit or credit card. In my world those cards seem to represent all of the money in the world available to me. :) So, the Fields' had to switch to the cash system. That is something manageable and measurable to me. It's real and makes sense. That's the post-morph topic: Balancing the Right Things.
1. First Thing First: Worship - In our families, Lord's Day Worship should be a non-negotiable. It is commanded. It is separate from other days. Our whole week should be leading to this pinnacle event. If you want to see your children begin to structure all of life around worship and begin to see them connect and start to depend on their community of faith- start moving toward Sunday.
What does this look like? Let's start with Sunday and work backwards. We get up and get ready for worship. We try to keep this day open so that we can hang out with the people that we worship with. We eat with them, talk about the sermon, share about our week and how God moved on our behalf, our struggles and our sins. See, the believer begins their week with rest! Sunday is the first day of the week. We, in a sense, are entering into our rest at the beginning of every week. Beautiful re-creation! It's the day that we show up to watch God perform.
Now let's back up to Saturday. On Saturday my entire view is toward Sunday. I think about Sunday lunch. What are we having? Who are we having over? I do not commit to things that are going to have me or my family out too late. I plan things that are complete around dinner. We don't do late movies or concerts, sporting events or hanging out with friends till 2 a.m.. After dinner I have everything that my kids need for Sunday worship laid out on the table. That would be: shoes, clothes, glasses, bible, church bag with snacks...etc) and I have breakfast on the bar for the next morning: muffins, donuts, etc. We have to be walking out of the house no later than 9:50 a.m.. Now, let me speak freely. This is when I usually let out a big sigh when I am talking with someone about this because they usually say or think - "That's too much work." Do I even need to go into all of the problems I have with that statement? I see parents bust their backsides to re-pack back packs, pack snacks, fruit break, sign papers, layout clothes for the next day, feed them breakfast and get them all out of the house by 7:30. What one does communicates more than one what one says. They know what the important things are to you. Why do we put that much strain, effort, preparation for things that are not commanded? Why? Why do we delight in those things and not in corporate worship?
Now, let's back up to Friday
- This is the night that we usually plan our late events, late dates, late concerts and late hang outs. Yes, I know that all of these things do not happen on Friday nights. I do not think that the measure of your Christianity hangs on weather or not you go to a James Taylor Concert, that happens to be on a Saturday night. But I will say this- on the night of my Senior Prom my mom & dad allowed me to stay out very late. Very, Very late. After breakfast, my Dad told me to go get ready for church. I knew that the next morning I would be worshiping with my family. Here I sit typing 20 years later. If I am going to run my kids, or myself all day & night, I want to do it on a day when they have the whole next day to rest.
The rest of the week: Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday, for us, looks something like this:
On Monday I might say to my girls: Who in our church body can we send a nice card to?
On Tuesday I can say: Who in our church body can we pray for?
On Wednesday I say: Who do we worship with that we can have over for lunch or dinner?
On Thursday: How can our family serve another family?
*note- This might feel mechanical at first.

Some of you are probably thinking, "I don't have time to do this." As a believer, all of life should look something like this. We all have the same amount of time. Hopefully your pot is being stirred a little...Hopefully you're asking, "Why is it SO important to center everything around corporate worship?"

Simply put- Because the Bible tells us too. Where are we on a journey to? ALL of life is a journey that will culminate in full and final corporate worship.
All of life HERE should be a miniature copy of our life THERE. The NOW and the NOT YET.

What would you say your life is centered around now? What needs to change in order for you to have a Sunday view?

(to be continued : 2. Second Thing Second)