Grace in the Front Row

We were late to worship yesterday... 

now to appease my false guilt I'll tell you it was the nursery's fault...   there I feel better.

Anyway there we were walking up the side of the sanctuary...  all 7 of us...  all - the - way - down - to - the - front - row.   At least at that point they were still standing to sing so we weren't too distracting. 

But I feel the pressure. 

The way our sanctuary is set up we are now staring at the first 10 or so rows of the opposite side...
 

Maggie's only 3 and very much in the throws of training to sit in big church.  Will this be the day we have a meltdown?  How fast do you think I can get out that side door right up front?  Which way is this thing gonna go?



Then we sit.

There were some glares exchanged between the oldest two regarding the location of Philippians...  and a few times early on that Maggie did the 3 year old whisper...  which is not really a whisper but a scratchy yell type thing.    That and the waving at Peter every time he ventured over to our side of the stage... nice. 

All in all it was not too bad and I was thankful because I was fully aware of how wrong it could have gone in a hurry.   

But as we were sitting there I have to admit I was distracted with the thoughts of the last 11 years.   There was a good 5 to 6 of those years that I spent swaying a baby back and forth in the lobby wondering why I bothered going to church at all.  At the time it felt like those years might never end.

But there we sat... 

I know our kids are still young and we have many a trip out of big church in our future as we continue training Mags to sit though the service, but that light at the end of the tunnel is so much brighter than it used to be.   As I watch Sam laughing at the jokes he gets now...  he's listening.  And the top 3 all feverishly writing to fill in blanks before they flip to the next slide. 

Sometimes He pours out His love to us in letting us see the fruits of our meager labors and His tremendous Grace to our family.

 And I was grateful.