Serve in Your Church Nursery

This has been on my mind lately.
I have hesitated writing this post because I fear it will come off as preachy.  But maybe it needs to be said.

Brothers and sisters - serve in your church nursery.

We are a small church.  Other than us, there are only two other families with small children.  I and two other ladies rotate nursery service on Sunday mornings.  It works well for us for the most part.

Recently, we were at another church for a function.  Hudson is glaringly three: energetic, fun, sweet, sassy, fiercely independent, annoyingly vocal, and generally all around exhausting.  We had traveled to get to this church function, which is never a good idea with a three year old.  It had been a long day.  Hudson did well during the worship through song, because he loves singing.  My three-year-old knows all the words to Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.  No joke.  It's his favorite.  Anyway, when the preaching started, Hudson started as well:  standing up, sitting down, "Why are you shushing me, Mama?", and so on.  I had never been in this church before so I had no clue where the nursery was.  I entered the lobby to entertain Hudson and after a few minutes a sweet older lady came to me and asked if Hudson would like to go to the nursery.  Sure!  She walked us to the nursery, turned on the lights, and left.  My heart deflated.  Now, I know her question wasn't a volunteer to take him to the nursery, but I had been hopeful.  Hopeful she'd offer to stay with him.  Hopeful she'd offer to stay with me!  In the end there I was, in the nursery, playing grocery store for the duration of the service.

Now, I know her lack of helping in the nursery likely wasn't intentional.  She just wasn't thinking.  And that's a problem - we don't think of others.

I love my son, as all mamas do.  But you know what? Mamas who love Jesus sometimes need to hear that Jesus loves them from someone other than the Bible CD playing in the church nursery.

That said, I encourage you to serve in your church's nursery.  Befriend the Mama with the kids.  Even if she doesn't want to leave her kids with you in the nursery, offer to stay with her.

See this face?  The cuteness saves him most days.