What's the Opposite of a Waste of Time?

Today was… a day. It started with me dragging a groggy five going-on-fifteen year old out of bed to get ready for Bible Study Fellowship. (If you've ever attended Bible Study Fellowship, the running gag is that you started going to get someone to stop harassing you about trying it. Personally, I go because I get to see my mom and there’s usually lunch involved afterwards. And also, it’s a challenging, in-depth study of God’s word and they have a great kids program. And again, I get out of preparing lunch.)

So after I finally get both of my kids in the upright position with breakfast in front of them (multigrain cheerios ‘cause I’m MOM OF THE YEAR. But please, hold your applause...) I make a foolhardy attempt to leave the room to apply a teensy bit of makeup to the bags under my eyes and lament the death of my hairdryer as I wrestle my hopeless hair into half a ponytail. As I begin the pre-church-event pep talk (God doesn't care what we look like, it doesn't matter what people think, etc.) I’m interrupted by shouts from my two-year-old, admonishing the dog for stealing all of his O’s. He gets a peanut butter, chocolate chip granola bar as a replacement breakfast. (Seriously, where do I pick up my trophy?) Then I explain to my five-year-old that cheerios aren't a food we eat individually, please put MORE THAN ONE ON THE SPOON BECAUSE WE HAVE TO LEAVE IN 10 MINUTES AND MOMMY IS LOUD BECAUSE SHE LOVES YOU AND DOESN'T WANT YOU TO BE HUNGRY OR THE ONLY KID WEARING PAJAMAS TO BIBLE STUDY.

Deep breath.

Make coffee.

Spend 10 minutes getting kids dressed, brushed, shoed, and ushered into the car with toys for them to fuss over and then realize while sitting in middle school drop off traffic (thank God I don’t work anymore?) that the coffee is sitting in a pretty Polish pottery mug on the Keurig.

SIGH.

The best part of BSF is that I get to drop off the kids in a loving, safe environment where they have fun singing hymns and learning the same Bible lessons that I do. I get to refocus my crazy day with two songs and a prayer, and spend time in fellowship with other women who have been learning about the amazing beginning to the life of Moses throughout the week. I get to listen to a teacher clarify what we've studied and apply it to our lives. And when I pick my kids up, I’m not loud-mommy anymore.

I got to read this while I was getting my car washed last week.  That's a big deal.

I had a headache all day.  It would have been easier to stay home, put Netflix on and start unofficial pajama day at school around 11 am after my mid-morning fika. But if you watch the news at all, you’ll realize what a BIG, GIANT, ENORMOUS deal it is that we live where we can publicly meet fellow believers with Bibles in hand to freely worship God. It isn't something I can take for granted. If you’re interested in trying a Bible study, you can check out their website, or let me know. I might even buy you lunch.