The main reason is because my wife has been at the late stages of pregnancy. Baby was due mid may. So I got cover for the month of may as baby births are quite unpredictable. I asked a member of the ward to teach. They didn't let me down.
Incidentally, baby was born on 20th May and though he has been quite healthy, he has still kept the family busy. With two children under 4 in the family already, finding time to study has been a real challenge. I've managed to just about keep up with the reading assignment and ponder a few question from the manual, or my own questions. But that about it.
Even now as I start to prepare for this week. I'm feeling more run down than usual and am sat in front of a ticking time bomb.
The two older ones are in bed and our newborn is sleeping in has seat but I know that within the hour he's going to be crying asking for some milk. I can then say good by to the rest of tonights preparations for the lesson ahead.
These last two weeks I have been holding Teaching in the Saviours Way teacher council meetings. This has also taken me out of teaching the main Sunday school class. so again, I have allowed myself to fall victim to the mentality that as I'm not teaching, and as we have a newborn I will allow myself the grace of studying less.
A couple of the thoughts that have rested quite well with me over the last few weeks came from the image from the manual. Mark 12:38-44, Luke 21:1-4.
1. I always imagined the window in this story to be old. The possibility that the widow was a young mother completely opened my eyes to how much more she was giving. Not just all that she had, but all that may have been destined for her family.
2. The manual asks the following question, Are there offerings your family is making that can’t be recorded on a tithing slip? Immediately I thought about time. I have next to no time right now. and recently our routines have lot longer involving extra bath time, cleaning of extra bottles, extra nappies that need changing. I now get to settle down to do what I need to do for myself or my calling at around 10:30pm, if I'm lucky.
Some people do not work, and they do not have a family, no doubt they do have responsibilities but so do I above those I just mentioned. They have easily 60+ hours a week more than me. For me to give even just 1 hour a week, does feel like all [my] living.
I very much hope a lot of people in my ward understand this.
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