Weekend is something that people look forward to—a time to relax, rest and have some fun. For many of us, Sunday is a part of a weekend so the question is, is Sunday something we look forward to? Or has it become a weekly routine that we need to check off from our to-do list? If we are not sure what the correct answer is, we can look at little children in our home to remind us that Sunday is a day looking forward to.

I was at a fast and testimony meeting with my family one Sunday morning. My brother in law was conducting the meeting so he had the opportunity to bear his testimony first. He started off by sharing his struggles with his young family and the blessings he knows he will receive as he keeps the covenants he made with God. I can sense in his deep voice the difficulties he is facing as a young father doing his best to support his family and preside in their home. This was evident as he shared how demotivated he was to get up that morning to prepare to go to Church. He was tired from a long week’s hard work and thinking that they have struggles that seem to never end did not add color to his day. Until his almost 2-year-old little girl came grabbing his shirt and tried to wake him up. He said with a crack in his voice, “I was wondering why my daughter was grabbing my shirt. I thought she wanted something from the kitchen she cannot reach because she was pointing at something. As I got up and followed her lead, my heart started to tighten because my tears began falling down my cheeks. My daughter was pointing at the shower room. I don’t know how she knew that we had to prepare to go church, I don’t know how she knew that it was a Sunday and that we have to get dressed. I don’t know how but clearly she knew.”

I found my heart pounding hard in my chest because that same day, I found it hard to get up to prepare for Church too. If you keep finding yourself feeling the same like my brother-in-law and I did, then I think we need to step back and reflect on why children are excited to go church. They are excited to learn a new primary song, they are excited to recite a scripture verse they have been trying to memorize all week, they are excited to say the opening or closing prayer because they were assigned the prior week, they are eager to raise their hands to answer questions because they read their lesson last Saturday, etc. This excitement may have been because of the candies and chocolates that they will receive when they perform well. Are we not excited as they are because we are not offered any incentive? Aren’t the knowledge and continuous conversion that have been promised to us as we come to church spiritually prepared not enough to excite us to go to church?

We may have different reasons why we go to church every Sunday. However, may the excitement of our kids or kids in the Church be an inspiration to us to continue to find joy and meaning in our Church attendance. May we become like the little children, ever teachable and excited to learn more about Jesus and become more like Him.