A Single Reflection
Column by Eileen Hershberger

Difficult Days

At churchDo you have a day of the week that you just do not like? Perhaps it is Mondays—the reality of heading back into another busy work week makes you want to stay under the covers. Perhaps it is Fridays—another date night spent at home alone. For me it is often Sundays. Sundays can be difficult, sitting in church and seeing all the families around me, dressed in their Sunday best. I wish it were me who had someone putting his arm around me while sitting on the cold pew, me who is cuddling the little one to sleep against my chest. However, it is not me, and I sit alone, observing what looks to be peace and perfection around me, wishing I could just have a piece of it.

So why do I go to church? Why put myself through all that? Could I not just avoid it all by staying home? After all, do we not serve a God who can be worshipped anywhere, any place, anytime? Why do I attend a weekly worship service?

While reading “Progress of Another Pilgrim” by Frances Roberts one day, I came across this devotional talking about what she calls The Lord’s Day, and in it she writes (as if God is speaking):
This is My day, and you honor Me when you spend a sacred portion of it in My house. It matters not so much where, as how. If your heart is lifted up to Me and filled with love and adoration and gratitude, your soul shall receive ministry, and you will be used to minister to others.1 

I go to church, not to have an excuse to feel sorry for myself, but to honor the One who created me. It honors the One who is my sustainer. It honors the One who understands my struggles and says to me, "I can minister to you anywhere, but when you make the effort to worship in my house, it tells me that you Love me too and that you want to Honor me." It honors God when I go to church. What does it mean to honor? What are we really doing when we attend a worship service? A web search of dictionaries gave this definition of honor. Honor is “to hold in high respect; to worship; to show courteous regard for”.2  When we attend a church service we are showing God the respect He is worthy of and deserves. We are there for no other reason but to worship Him and by doing so, we are then able to minister to or help others.

As you slide into your bench for Sunday morning services this week, make a list of the ways God provided for you last week and gratitude will fill your heart. Let the wonder of Who He is wash over you while you sing praises to Him, and adoration for Jesus will fill your soul. Then listen. Listen with your heart. Listen, while the Creator of the Universe speaks to you and you will leave refreshed and awed at the wonder of Who He really is and how much He loves and cares about you.

I think as singles, sometimes it is easy to feel left out and alone when it comes to church, and we make that our focus instead of focusing on the real reason of going to church. I am slowly learning that instead of spending so much of my Sunday wishing for something I do not have—to make GOD my focus on Sundays. And I find that when I do focus on who He is and why I am worshipping Him, those happy families suddenly don’t seem so happy anymore and the pew becomes my sanctuary of worship instead of a hard, lonely bench from where I am only an observer. And Sunday is no longer a difficult day but one that makes all those other difficult days I encounter, easier to deal with.
  
 

1Roberts, Frances J. Progress of Another Pilgrim. Uhrichsville: Barbour, 1970
2"honor." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 18 Jan. 2007. <Dictionary.com>

About the Author: Eileen Hershberger is a full-time student pursuing a degree in Early Childhood Education, and a part-time server. She enjoys reading, music, travel and baseball when not working or studying.

© 2007 Eileen Hershberger.


Copyright © 2008 Positively Feminine®, Inc.