Wordless Wednesday

So helpful...

When You Don't Want To Go To Church (Part 1)

The problem with infrequent posts is that the more time that goes by, the fewer posts that make it by my personal filters. Lots of them are sitting in draft purgatory, until I get passionate about them enough to keep going and finally hit "publish."

Here's a topic that comes up every once in a while. See what you think.




Sunday morning church-going is a habit that was instilled in me as a child. I realize it may be partly a cultural thing, but I view it as a key part of being able to hold onto my faith (while God held onto me). No, I don't always feel spiritually-engaged, but it's a discipline, just like reading your Bible (which I'm worse at)-you just keep doing it and trust that it is taking root and will eventually bear fruit.

There are people who go to church and don't believe, but this post isn't about them. This post is about people who believe, but don't go to church. I find this a quite perplexing problem. To me, a person who has found God will inevitably be drawn to fellowship. This begs the question: does it have to be a specific body of people that meets regularly?

Andrei and I role-played a bit about this, after discussing an article about Christian "free-lancers." These are people who freelance not as a job but as a church member. They visit 2 or more churches, having friendly relations with people in each. They hang out with believing friends during the week and attend various church events. They might participate in an occasional service event. And they consider this flitting about a perfectly legitimate form of fellowship. (note: I haven't read "Stop Dating the Church" by Josh Harris, but I'm thinking maybe it hits on this?)

Well, I thought it was ridiculous. Okay, inter-church fellowship is great, but if you are not in any one church for less than 50% of the month, are you really committed? Can you really have meaningful relationships in that situation? Are you really participating in the life of the Body? And what about accountability? 

But my main point was that people who can't commit to one church probably have some other reason. I think there is some hurt or fear or resentment beneath the surface. But I can't prove it. So I guess Andrei won the role-play. I can't prove that people can't be content without Christ, either. It's not a logical argument sort of thing.

Revisiting the church attendance thing, though. What keeps you from going to your main church on a Sunday morning?

To be continued...

Comic Relief (Wordless Wednesday)

Our Montessori Corners

Some of the mommy parenting forums I've been on mention Montessori set-ups at home. For example, I ran across the idea that a child's room should have everything at the child's eye level. I have to say that a part of me is skeptical. I don't see myself running out and buying/making a child-sized version of everything for David. However, I do have a few ideas for him in mind. And it sure is fun to set something up and see him enjoying it later.

Part of the reason I DON'T want to go overboard is that you can't always predict what a child will find interesting. He doesn't want plastic car keys-he wants yours. He doesn't want a toy house, he wants a cardboard box.

David has gotten to this phase where he likes lounging around on pillows or just the floor. So I decided to pile all the extra blankets and pillows together to make him a reading corner. (sorry, potential houseguests)

So here are A) the reading corner and B) where he actually likes to hang out.

B) The reading corner

B) Under the desk is much more cozy?

I also had the idea to make him a cozy place to hang out in our bedroom while I'm doing things like putting laundry again. Here again are my attempt and his own choice:

A) Curl up under here, David!

B) David thinks behind the curtains is best for playing peekaboo

And finally, David needs a place in our home office when Daddy and/or Mommy is working on something. We even got him his own little hideout, hoping to distract him from his favorite precarious perch, on the ledge under Daddy's desk. But he still likes to play at Daddy's feet.

A) Specially for you, David!

B) Even a roadblock won't keep him from his favorite spot