Surviving Sunday Morning

If you are a mother and regular church attender than you know how stressful Sunday mornings can be. they can leave a mother an exhausted and stressed out mess by the time she reaches the pew for worship. This isn’t the “goal” or the “desire” of our hearts but many times we don’t see any other option. There are children to dress, bags to pack, Bibles to find, shoes to locate, and hair to comb. Not to mention breakfast to fix and serve and hopefully clean up along with the fact that getting home late in the morning makes lunch time rushed as well. So, is there a way to prevent this cycle? Will you ever be able to sit down in service with your family and feel that your heart is focused and ready to worship? I have stived for the past couple of years to get to this point. It is a huge priority of mine, not only for my family but also for me. I need to be able to focus on worship and rest on Sunday.

But how does one achieve this? Here is what I have found that works for me. I pray that it will help you to be able to once again look forward to Sundays with your Savior and not dread them due to stress.

First thing is you must have a plan. When I am making my menu up for the month I make sure to choose certain meals for our Sunday lunches that can either be cooked in the crockpot or can be cooked on Saturday and reheated when we get home. This planning starts days or weeks in advance. Then come any given Saturday my focus is on preparation for at least the last half of the day. And if I know we have a busy Saturday I start on Friday. I clean the house once over agian, making sure the kitchen is cleaned and dishes caught up, I make sure the floor is swept and the living room tidied. I wipe down the bathroom after baths are finished and I throw the wet towels in the washer so they don’t get yucky before Monday.

I also make sure I know where all the little ones shoes are, have their clothing picked out, the diaper bag is packed the night before and clean cups laid out so that in the morning they can be filled and put into the diaper bag. Everything that can be ready before is thought out and done. I also plan breakfast out even if it is just cereal or toast. I try to offer a very filling and lasting breakfast and I also pack a snack for the younger ones for during or after service. We usually don’t get home until 1:00 or a little after and that just makes for crabby little guys if I don’t plan ahead.

So, here is a list of what I do on Saturday (or sometime before Sunday morning) to make my Sunday morning less chaotic –

1. Plan lunch and have as much cooked/prepped as possible

2. Lay out clothing/shoes/hair needs for each little one

3. Lay out breakfast needs

4. Make sure dishwasher is empty and ready for the dishes of Sunday

5. Clean the kitchen to make breakfast/lunch prep easier and more enjoyable.

6. Pack the diaper bag/books/Bibles all the night before.

7. Pray/sing/make the Saturday preparation time a time of worship/prayer.

Now, if you read number 7 and thought to yourself, “Is she crazy? All that cleaning and cooking and planning and bathing is not at all worship! It is a ton of work!” I know what you mean. But I have trained myself to find such calm and peace in this routine. It is something that I hold very dear to my heart. I pray for those that are on my heart. I sing praise to my Savior and I pray for my husband as he prepares the message for our congregation. It has quickly become on of my favorite times of the week. So, that, my dear friends is how I prepare for a time of worship and keep my Sunday mornings much more calm. Worship service with 5 kids means I am often distracted with training of the little ones so the fact that I have this time of worship and preparation is vital to my heart and spirit.

I pray that you are blessed by this and that you can find peace instead of chaos as you prepare for worship this week.