I love Sundays

I love Sundays. Don’t you? I even loved them last year when our church met 1:00-4:00. But now we have my favorite schedule, 9:00-12:00. Except that means that I have to make a decent lunch and dinner, which I somehow managed to never do last year, since by 11:30 we were in a hurry and no one cared what they ate. I hate thinking of what to eat and, since I rarely plan ahead, I’m hurting more often than not. (Yes, I know. I could fix that by actually planning. The thing is, I end up spending LOTS more money on groceries when I plan than when I don’t. I know, I know, it should be the other way around. But for us it’s not. Don’t know why—except that we’re cheap, and usually eat canned chili when there’s nothing else as opposed to going out.) So the best thing about our upcoming cruise (10 days! Had to get that in here somewhere) is that for twelve days I will not have to think of what to cook!!!!!! Is that not worth the price of the ticket right there?

Anyway, as I was saying. Sundays are the best. I think it’s because I get to do so many of my favorite things with so many of my favorite people. I love being at church. I love, love, love the people in my ward, more than they will ever know, I think. I love sitting on the stand and looking at everyone, and smiling at them while I lead the music. I am short, so when I lead the music I stand at the front corner of the little raised area (what do you call that, anyway? A dais?) to lead the music. Which means that my behind is pretty much in the face of the speakers. Which I feel a little self-conscious about. Yesterday the speakers thought it would be funny to make little remarks to me behind my back (literally) while I led, so it was hard to keep a straight face.

I love being in the halls between classes and saying hi to everyone. The kids think we’re friends now ever since I led the music in primary (sniff—still not over that). I love how kids are like that. In fact, I was playing the “tell me who loves you” game with my youngest and, after naming the people in the family, he named Sister Schmidt, the secretary in the primary presidency. Is that cool, or what? That he would believe, with all his heart, that this woman loved him. I love wards, I tell you! In the hall yesterday I saw one of the sisters (and there are very many in this ward, sadly) who is struggling mightily with her health right now. She was wearing her new wig for the first time since chemo started. And she looked so cute in it! Of course it was weird, but I had to tell her so. I just trust that she felt my sincerity and love.

That’s the name of the game, my friend. In a ward, you’ve got to trust to love. Trust that others feel yours. Trust that others have it for you. Trust that if you don’t have it, it will come.

I love teaching Relief Society, which I got to do yesterday. It’s weird how I have evolved as a teacher. I mostly love doing it because it’s the one way to guarantee I won’t be bored with the lesson. But I have to admit that I secretly suspect that I might be good at it. I suppose it’s OK to think that, seeing as I’ve been trained as a teacher. But, you know. The whole humility thing. Which is a little bit the way that I have evolved. I used to be pretty spectacular—not in the handout way, but in the really cool outside sources, thoughtful asides, metaphors, and poetry/musical numbers way (don’t believe in handouts) (nor centerpieces for that matter). But I think I’m getting closer to understanding the interplay between my skills and the Spirit (and the way that humility is the glue) these days. My lessons are getting less breathtaking. My goal is that the women will leave the room with more love for themselves, for the Lord, and for each other, not with a greater appreciation for Darlene Young. I don’t want them to look back and say, “Wow, that was a great lesson.” I want them to look back and say, “Wow, the gospel is cool and I feel good.” I think I’m improving in that goal.

I love choir practice. All the really cool people are at choir practice, don’t you know. I remember Orson Scott Card wrote about that a little in his book Lost Boys—about how the key to getting into a new ward and really feeling part of it is to join the choir. Amen.

And then the best part of Sunday: spending long periods of time just reading to my boys. We have a great tradition of reading The Friend magazine together on Sundays. I also read whatever chapter books we have going as read-alouds right then. Last night the older boys and I finished A Swiftly Tilting Planet (sorry but I can’t tell what I ever saw in it before—or why it got an award. It was sloppy and confusing and boring) and the younger boys and I read a few chapters of The Magician’s Nephew. Joy, joy, joy! Reading with my kids is my absolute, number 1 favorite thing to do as a mom.

Finally, we are often lucky enough to be invited to a grandma’s house for dinner on Sunday (see “hating to decide what to eat,” above). What’s not to like about showing up, eating, and hanging with cool people?

So that’s why I love Sundays. How ‘bout you?