I have always struggled with the daily things Christians are supposed to do–things like daily Bible reading and daily prayers. It just seems like those things get all caught up in the other stuff going on in a day. Motherhood has made my daily reading and prayers even more sparse. This shouldn’t surprise me because being a parent hasn’t really made anything easier. Everything, from taking a shower and making coffee to graduating college, became infinitely (but wonderfully) more difficult once Norah was born. And when it comes to eternal things…well. It’s pretty hard to think eternally when you have a squalling poopy baby in your arms.

Yesterday I had a profound kind of realization.

We were at church, doing our usual church thing that involves sitting and standing, singing and listening, sharing the Peace and praying for others, and a generous helping of Norah wrangling. She is a loud and mobile baby. She does not like to sit in laps for long periods of time or be quiet…ever. And the church is not a magical place with magical air that turns babies into still and silent, smiling angels. Our crazy and vocal baby is just as crazy and vocal at church as she is at home. In fact, that’s one of my favorite things about our church.

Our church is very family-oriented, welcoming to having babies and children in the service. A few years ago, Dr Robbie Castleman, one of my professors from JBU and the author of this book  , came to our church to talk about the importance of worshipping as a family and teaching children how to engage in the service. She explained that kids are still kids, even in church and that parents are still parents. She said that part of worshipping as a parent is learning to take in stride the fact that babies cry and yell during sermons, pass gas during silent prayer times, and sometimes have to be taken out of the service for a few minutes. I remember very vividly her saying that it may seem like you may not feel like you are able to really take part in, or even pay attention to, the service because you are doing so much kid-managing, but that all just part of it. She said that God is honored when you care for your kids, even in the pew. I really love Dr Castleman.

Our church has really taken hold of this, and I am so grateful for that. I think this just adds to the idea that the church is a family, and families often have crying babies in them. 

So yesterday, as I was praying the Lord’s Prayer I was also wiping Nutri-Grain goo off the floor so Norah would stop scraping it up with her fingers and eating it. I got a sudden feeling of guilt, like I was being irreverent or something. I was not paying attention, I was not even looking at the front of the sanctuary while I said the prayer. I was squatting on the floor wiping up strawberry smears. What was I teaching my daughter?! And then, Dr Castleman’s words came back to me. All of this– the baby care, the floor wiping, and the Lord’s prayer– all of this was part being a faithful Christian.

For me, part of being a faithful Christian involves being a good parent too. Even when being a good parent is inconvenient. And what was I teaching my daughter? Hopefully, that the line between the sacred and secular is not much of a line at all, that honoring God takes many forms and happens in many ways, including cleaning up goo while praying the Lord’s Prayer.