Since today is Sunday, I thought I’d share a Sunday Meredith Break.  Several of my Meredith Breaks involve Sundays and/or church because that was the setting I most wanted to look like we were a family “put-together” when the girls were little. God was always trying to remind me that He wasn’t as concerned about how we appeared to others as much as He was concerned about how we loved Him and others.  And, He was always able to do it with a little bit of a sense of humor through Meredith.

I love praise music!  And, it always did this momma’s heart good when I could hear my babies singing praises to Jesus.  They loved the worship, the singing; they knew all the words and the motions!  So, when the older elementary students had opportunities at our church to lead worship during kids’ church, my girls always signed up.  

On this particular Sunday, Meredith was scheduled to lead the 9:00 service.  Now, let me add that getting a family of five up and ready for church by 9:00 was a true struggle for me when the girls were young.  (It still is sometimes, even now!!)  Trying to battle four heads of hair usually ended in tears from at least one of us.  Then, hearing “I don’t want to wear that!” over and over would send me fuming!  Since that was no way to start a Sunday morning, I would try to relax some of my control over the preparations for Sunday morning church services. One way I would do this was to sometimes let my girls choose their own outfits, within reason. Being girly-girls, fashion has always been important to them, even at that age! Our dress code was fairly relaxed, so I wasn’t too worried about what they would select for their Sunday morning style. But I did have one rule when they lead worship: no jeans!  I mean, they were on stage after all! 

So, as I was rushing everyone to get ready, I stopped in Meredith’s room to see what she had chosen to wear for her “performance” that morning.  “Jeans.  Nope.  Change. I’ve told you before, no jeans when you lead worship!  Pick out another outfit and hurry!”  I had it all under control.  She had time to change, and we could still make it on time for her to get on stage before church started.

Silly me.  I went to finish getting dressed, checking on the other girls, and fixing hair.  With about five minutes left before we had to leave, Meredith proudly came walking out of her room, ready to go.

She was dressed in long denim shorts and a beige button-up.  It was still technically jeans, but that wasn’t what caught my eye (and made it twitch)!  She was also donning COWBOY BOOTS and COWBOY HAT!  WHAT?  Never in a million years did I expect my cute, little, blonde, curly-headed princess to be dressed like a nine-year-old Miranda Lambert….to lead worship!!

I screamed, “YOU ARE LEADING WORSHIP FOR CHURCH!  NOT ATTENDING THE CMA AWARDS!”  

I have no idea what she was thinking, and I didn’t give her any time to explain it to me! I was furious that we were going to be late because she WAS GOING TO CHANGE!  I should have planned better.  I should have chosen her clothes for her or made her decide on an outfit the night before.  I thought I could keep it all under control that morning.  Obviously, I was wrong.

Many years of parenting fails and hindsight tells me that God would have LOVED having my little country-western worship leader singing His praises that morning!  It wasn’t that big of a deal.  Her heart was in the right place, and that’s all that should have mattered. God doesn’t care what we look like when we worship Him; He just cares that we do! 

I hope you are all having a blessed Sunday, even if you are wearing a cowboy hat and boots!

“…The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)