Sunday, December 14, 2008

Only During Service - Take Two

It was communion service. In our church, we have the very quiet time when the bread and juice is being passed around, and we all have a few moments of silent prayer to contemplate what Jesus has done for us....

I must confess that as a mother of four wiggly kids sitting in service, I actually do very little of contemplating what Jesus has done for us and spend most of my time frantically begging God to please, please let them be quiet for communion and please, please not let my tired thirsty little ones start whining as to why they can't have grape juice too, since "I'm thirsty too, and I KNOW Jesus died, so I CAN remember it!"

So we all sat there in quiet prayer, and it seemed as if God was answering my desperate pleas. Four silent children sat near me. So silent, in fact, that number three got tired. He stretched a little in his seat, yawned some, and turned to lean up against me and rest. He sighed as he snuggled in against my side, and rested his head on my breast - for a brief second. Then his little head popped up in surprise and discovery. He leaned over and poked my breast with one finger, jumped back a little, and said, "hmmphf, that feels just like jello!

And yes - loud enough for a few rows to hear... we were, after all, having silent prayer!

All I could think as I turned red and tried to bury my giggles in reverent prayer was that I was at least glad that the man seated behind me had four young children of his own. He looked reverent, too, as silent tears ran down his face during the prayer time. In fact, a few people sitting near me must have all been simultaneously convicted of sins as tears ran down many cheeks and heads bowed deeper and shoulders shook in quiet sobs... or was that giggles?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Ahhh - truly out of the mouths of babes! My favorite from my daughter at 2 1/2 in Sunday school wanted to "pray for the dead bodies in mommies basement!!" In explanation - the morgue is in the basement of the hospital I worked in, and she knew that, and was anxious to pray for them :-)

Unknown said...

What a HOOT!

Thanks for the chuckles...give #3 an extra little hug...

I can imagine Jesus was chuckling at that one....

Thanks Ellie...

Maridee said...

Absolutely priceless!! Tears flowing and shoulders shaking as I write. I needed that.

Blessings!!!

Maridee

Rebecca Conduff Aguirre said...

LOL! Too funny...hilarious what they feel needs to be said at those precise moments. sigh.

The Christmas program at school was on Friday and as the first wiseman made his way up the aisle towards the front, complete with crown, blond wig and beard, Jojo (who only saw him from the back) exclaimed, "oh look, a princess!".

Ellie said...

Oh no! I can imagine what went through the teacher's mind with the dead bodies thing!!

My kids have begun to pray at every meal, "Please make this food taste good." I hope it is not a reflection on my cooking, but Grandma did have them for a week. I have been hearing a lot of "Grandma made a roast with cranberries." Grandma made us desert every day! And cookies!"

Yeah, and Grandma does not work, either!

Alan & Beth McManus said...

I read your post out loud to my Mom. We both were in stitches by the end. My sister has written several posts on her blog about the "during service" antics of her kids. Mine have done . . . "fun?" things like that too, but can't think right off of one THAT hilarious.

The "please make this food taste good" cracks me up, too. Maybe you should burn everything on purpose for a week so that when you start cooking nicely again, they'll appreciate it more? (Just kidding!)

Grammy said...

enjoy video!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m72GNRrvc88

Annette said...

too funny!