Church at Home

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the beginning of January, my Church altered our Sunday structure to reduce the time spent in the church building from 3 hours to 2. With the extra time we were encouraged to follow a loose curriculum to study the scriptures together as a family at home.

I LOVE "church at home," that's what we call it. I have been pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm with which my children have embraced our new routine. I'm pretty sure they are at the perfect age for such a transition. I love hearing their sweet testimonies as well as their tender questions. I also love that they are hearing their parents' testimonies on a more regular and consistent basis. I love that they want to make goals for the week and be held accountable for them the following Sunday.

We are most definitely not perfect in our efforts. Chewkie is often getting scolded for bouncing off the walls and Boy Howdy (I'm going to start referring to him as Doodah, his most recent nickname) gets chastened for being upset that the evening is not going the way he had it planned in his head. We have simple lessons that often only include a short discussion maybe a video.

But we are perfect in our consistency. Last week Matthew let Chewkie conduct our "church at home." So this week it was Doodah's turn. This morning, before church, he asked if he could teach part of the lesson. His request was met with an enthusiastic "yes!" In fact I had the perfect part of the lesson for him to teach: How to keep the Sabbath day holy.

He took his job - conducting our meeting, teaching the lesson, and leading a short game - very seriously. I LOVED. EVERY. SINGLE. PART. OF IT. He asked questions about what we should do on Sunday, what we shouldn't do on Sunday, and why we go to church and he made sure everyone participated and got their answers written on the board. Color me so impressed with my sweet son. I may have also kind of loved that Chewkie corrected her brother on his spelling of "church" even while telling Doodah that what he had written was "just fine."

So while we are still early in our implementation of "church at home," and while I have no misconceptions that their enthusiasm won't at some point wane, for now I am so thankful for this new program that allows me to connect with my children and husband in a higher and holier way.