Sunday, September 21, 2008

Home away from home

I adore the nursery at our church. The people who work there love my kids. When you drop off your 2-year-old and ask her for a kiss and she presents her hair to be kissed (not her cheek or her lips--that would require lifting taking her attention away from her toy), you know she's comfortable. When you tell her goodbye and she doesn't respond, you know she loves it there. And when you come to pick her up and she doesn't want to leave, you know how lucky you are.

Zoodle likes it, too. Even in his current Mommy phase, he is comfortable back there with workers who love him. And it's always meant so much to me that if my baby is crying and isn't quickly comforted, they come to get me. I'm respected as the mom, so I know I can trust the teachers.

It's just what an "infants, toddlers, and twos" class should be. Most of the time is spent playing. There is a very short, simple Bible story and a craft, usually coordinated with the Bible story and involving coloring and/or stickers. And mostly, there are involved teachers who freely give their time to my kids.

As moms, we love our children so deeply, and it can be hard to leave them with people who don't have the same absolute devotion to them. But it's not hard to leave Chickie and Zoodle with the teachers in the nursery at The Bridge Church. The genuine love they have for my kids is beautiful, comforting, and a true gift--to Chickie, Zoodle, The Engineer, and me.

Kendra, I know you're probably reading this. Thank you for lovingly handling the children's ministry at our church. You are the arms of Christ, embracing our church's children, and the mouth of Christ, teaching them. You sow into their lives, and I pray you'll reap tremendous rewards.

4 comments:

Lyndsay said...

Beth,
It warms my heart to hear that Ana and Eli have such a special church home. I think it's easy to take a wonderful place like that for granted, until you don't have it any longer. We've really struggled with Kate in the "2's" room at our new church, so I can certainly understand what a blessing a strong children's ministry team is.

Kara said...

Wah! I'm jealous of both of you. There is no nursery, no child care at our church... not even a "crying room"
to take Lizzy to when she's fussy and crying. None of the Catholic churches in my area have child care set-ups, and yet they wonder why more young families don't come to weekly Mass. Luckily, Abby is behaving pretty well these days, but it takes soooo much away from church when you spend half of it hissing at your child to stand still/ don't rip pages/ don't climb/ be quiet etc etc etc.

Kendra said...

thanks for making my day! and it's a blessing for us to spend time with your little ones, too. (plus, i'm still laughing about ana teaching sailor how to throw a football. :)

Anonymous said...

How wonderful you have such a great church family! Bryan and I are still in search of 'our church'- there are so many factors to consider. So far we have found one that I truly love, but I am apprenhensive about leaving Garrett yet. It will be nice when that day finally comes.