I love the school hols as for the first time (since not working) I can actually enjoy spending time with the kids in the hols rather than stressing about childcare. But my gosh where does the time go? I realised today that it has been a week since my last blog post and yet the post ideas are queueing up!! I literally have not had a spare second… Sadly I can’t get the scheduling thing to work for me either. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, blogger obviously has a mind of its own – or perhaps it’s a cunning form of censorship…
Anyway it has caused me to think about what one should be doing in ‘Holy Week’, because mine has been far less than holy I can tell you. I guess last year Easter must have been at the beginning of the hols, but I know that I had time to relfect on Easter before it was upon me. I read a lot about the resurrection last year, I wanted to look at it from different angles and get a real ‘handle’ on it.
This year, by comparison, my kids have been off school, my husband has been off work, I have been involved in setting up a church 24/7 prayer week and subsequently I think I have prayed less this week than any for the previous 6 months! I’m sure Holy week should be more about gentle reflection than running around like a headless chicken. (Note to self, mention this to school holiday planners before next year…) Has anyone else had this craziness or is it just me?
I realise tonight, as I have come back from setting up for tomorrow mornings kids activities, that it will be Good Friday tomorrow and yet I feel totally unprepared. I have not prayed, I have hardly opened my bible, I feel like I am letting God down.
It’s so easy to get bogged down in the busy-ness of life, something I have fallen to in the past, and miss the really important stuff. This is what has happened this week. Last year, as a church, we held an event on Good Friday and I remember feeling exhausted at the end of the day and really could have done with some quiet time and yet this year I am in the same position. Will someone please remind me next year that I should not book anything in Holy Week…
3 Comments
Perpetua
April 21, 2011 at 9:16 pmEasier said than done, Red, when one has children. Been there, done that and still have the scars to prove it.
Easter blessings xxx
Nancy Wallace
April 22, 2011 at 7:55 amI understand the problem, but it occurs to me that Jesus' death and resurrection happened in the middle of ordinary life at a busy time in a busy city with people going about business as usual. Perhaps that's part of the point – God coming where we are even when we let him down.
T.C.
April 23, 2011 at 8:33 amI agree, having Easter at the end of the school hols, we did forget a bit about it ourselves!
But it was lovely yesterday to stop and think no, hang on, this is Good Friday the start of a very important event and for the first time we had a really relaxed day at home, with a nice lunch over which we had a laid back conversation with the kids about Good Friday. Then in the evening went to a short reflective communion service. Looking forward to tomorrow!