My Son is Not a Fan of Sunday Service

"Please, please, please, don't make me go to church!" "It's so boring." "I don't wanna go, Daddy, I don't wanna go!" Toss in some crying and you've got my son's new obstacle in life. The boy can certainly be dramatic. You'd think I was dragging him to the doctors office for a round of shots. I say that with sarcasm, but he really might pick the needle. 

You wanna hear some more drama samples? Sure you do. A few Sundays ago, I was concerned 'cause Jack was still in his bed at 8:30. This dude wakes up EARLY, so this was way out of the norm. Finally, I went over to his bed, bent down, and stared at him to make sure everything was okay. Right about that time, his eyes opened and he said, "Daddy, what time is it?" I replied, "I don't know, maybe around 8:30." He then made a classic Jack response, "You can go on now, Daddy, I'm gonna sleep through church." If I didn't drag him out of bed, I think he would've stayed there.

He's not only pleading his case to me, he's taking it straight to the priest. No joke. Recently, about 10 seconds before mass started, my boy walked up to Fr. Mike and asked for a favor. "Would you please shorten mass...it's just way too long?" The priest responded, "Well, how would you have me do that?" Jack quickly added, "You can get rid of the communion part and maybe some singing." Fr. Mike laughed, but didn't take his advice. 

Okay, so lets be honest, what kid loves church? I would probably be concerned if he was excited about sitting still for an hour. And "sitting still" is not the easiest thing for Jack. The boy isn't bad, he's just busy, especially with his mouth. Everyone who knows him, knows that. He's a communicator and certainly loves to have conversations during church. There's no telling how many times I hear, "Is it almost over?" He'll even shed a few tears asking his favorite question. 

As you can imagine, 60 minutes of a Sunday service can turn into a tense experience. I can't tell you when the last time I was able to pay attention to an entire mass. I gotta be honest, these days church can be quite exhausting. After admitting that, I just may need to schedule a confession. Pray for me.