We want a moment to sit in a seat that we are not sharing with another tiny little body, or to partake in a miniature cup of grape juice that we didn’t have to prepare, or to hear songs that aren’t on television shows and kids radio. Some moms barely even get to interact with human beings over four feet tall during the week, so this is our one shot at finding community or going to the altar to ask for something that we have desperately been fighting back the tears over for weeks or even months.
This madness of asking some of the most desperate, isolated, and depressed people of the church has got to stop. I want to drop off my children to the mom who “ooohs” and “ahhhhs” the second she sees my little ones because she is dying for her grown children to make her a grandma. I want to spot a teenager in the nursery who is the next world’s best babysitter, just waiting for the opportunity to ask me to exchange texts so that she can come over Friday night and play with my kids while my husband and I go on a date that we’ve talked about for months.
So let’s find those people, the ones who were like me five years ago and are were just waiting for an invitation! Instead of asking for help at the nursery door, let’s ask from the podium, from a display table at the back of the church, or even from the weekly e-mail newsletter. The child center entrance is a sanctuary, and every mom wants to leave knowing that she is valued just for making it to church…even when she is late.
