An Unexpected Guest
This morning, I attended church on my own (gasp) for the first time in years. I grew up going to church every single Sunday, was involved in my youth group, went to a private Christian school, and attended any church I could while going to college. After college, I became disillusioned--not with my faith, but just with churches in general. I stopped going. I didn't purposefully make the decision to stop going or anything, but that's just what happened, and then I got used to not going. And I still am used to not going. This morning, I woke up with plenty of time to get ready for church, but found myself playing around with different excuses: "the dogs are dirty from the dog park yesterday, I should probably give them a bath--ooh, that will get in the way of church, oh well, maybe next week!" or "I have to teach that makeup lesson later today and I certainly don't want to have to get up in the middle of the sermon to get there on time."
But I really hate having regrets about not attending church, so I made myself go. And I'm glad I went. Yeah, there were things I found myself picking at, like how I really dislike contemporary worship services (I felt like I was at a Keane concert), or how I hate how people don't dress up anymore to go to church; but then I caught myself and felt ashamed.....here I was, being judgmental in church! So I pushed those judgmental thoughts away and tried to enjoy the service. I did. Although, I did end up having to leave early to get to my student's lesson on time, which was a little annoying, but I caught the majority of the message, so it was fine.
As I was driving home, I called my mom (I know it's bad to talk while driving, but at least I don't text!) to see how she was doing. She mentioned that my brother was in Columbus and that threw me off because it was just last week that my parents dropped him off at an organic farm in NC to intern for a 3-week trial period. Apparently, things didn't work out and there were some things that weren't brought to his attention until he arrived. A little inconsiderate of the people running the farm, but oh well--now he's back. He was waiting at the greyhound bus station to go back to Canton, but I caught him in time to pick him up and now he'll be staying with us for the rest of the week. This was a nice surprise for the end of my weekend as I hardly get to see my brother and didn't expect to see him again until the middle of June.
Other than that, a pretty uneventful weekend. On the agenda this week before we all go to Canton for Memorial Day weekend: slowly, but surely, turning my brother back into a meat-eater after leading a vegan lifestyle for the last several years! Haha, just kidding (sort of). Although, this household definitely cannot live without meat, so at some point, I know my brother will have to have some. Will update later with specifics on our weekday menu.
One week until the Memorial Day 5K and 3 weeks until Vegas and the Grand Canyon!
But I really hate having regrets about not attending church, so I made myself go. And I'm glad I went. Yeah, there were things I found myself picking at, like how I really dislike contemporary worship services (I felt like I was at a Keane concert), or how I hate how people don't dress up anymore to go to church; but then I caught myself and felt ashamed.....here I was, being judgmental in church! So I pushed those judgmental thoughts away and tried to enjoy the service. I did. Although, I did end up having to leave early to get to my student's lesson on time, which was a little annoying, but I caught the majority of the message, so it was fine.
As I was driving home, I called my mom (I know it's bad to talk while driving, but at least I don't text!) to see how she was doing. She mentioned that my brother was in Columbus and that threw me off because it was just last week that my parents dropped him off at an organic farm in NC to intern for a 3-week trial period. Apparently, things didn't work out and there were some things that weren't brought to his attention until he arrived. A little inconsiderate of the people running the farm, but oh well--now he's back. He was waiting at the greyhound bus station to go back to Canton, but I caught him in time to pick him up and now he'll be staying with us for the rest of the week. This was a nice surprise for the end of my weekend as I hardly get to see my brother and didn't expect to see him again until the middle of June.
Other than that, a pretty uneventful weekend. On the agenda this week before we all go to Canton for Memorial Day weekend: slowly, but surely, turning my brother back into a meat-eater after leading a vegan lifestyle for the last several years! Haha, just kidding (sort of). Although, this household definitely cannot live without meat, so at some point, I know my brother will have to have some. Will update later with specifics on our weekday menu.
One week until the Memorial Day 5K and 3 weeks until Vegas and the Grand Canyon!
Comments