generation to generation

Our church still has services on Sunday nights and while they do offer classes for kids thru the age of 5 Ashtyn has to sit with me in "big people church" as he calls it. Maddox usually chooses to sit with me too because he doesn't want to go to class by himself. So, on Sunday afternoons the boys pack their own little backpacks of things to do during service and they have to sit quietly through church. Sometimes they are a bit restless (and I can't blame them) but this week they did AWESOME!!!! They both kept themselves occupied with coloring books, sticker books, reading books and video games. Even Maddox sat quietly for 99% of the service! As I looked over at my boys during the sermon I couldn't help but have memories of myself sitting in church as a child next to my mom pulling book after book out of my own backpack and doodling on the backs of tithing envelopes. It was sorta weird to now see my kids doing the exact same thing...but in a way it also made me proud! I'm passing something down to my kids that I appreciate about my own life. Sure, as a kid I often felt "dragged" to church and would beg to stay home but my parents still made me go and now I am thankful for that. I can only hope that one day when my boys drag their own kids to church and look over to see them doing a word find in their coloring book, that they too will feel thankful...and maybe a bit sentimental too!