Palm Sunday and Pilgrim’s Progress

This Palm Sunday, like many Christians around the world, my family attended church in front of a computer. It is rather surreal to participate in a corporate service while sitting in an easy chair, watching a pastor preach in an empty sanctuary. The televised service lacked the presence of church family around us, yet I realize how blessed we are to be living in a time when technology allows us not only to watch videos of sermons, but to gather in worship simultaneously with others around the country, or even the world.

Worshiping alone in our living room wasn’t the only strange thing about the morning. The beginning of the service was punctuated by the barking of our Maltese, followed by my husband’s threats, “Stop barking or we’ll never take you to church again!” My cat purred in my lap during the sermon. I like that part, actually. I may have to start a petition for sanctuary lap cats when this is all over.

Before painting and cleaning.

We book-ended our Sunday with family movie night. Most people think we’re a little cracked to have movie night on a Sunday, but for us it’s a time to pause and be together as a family before we rush into the work/school week. This week we watched the new animated Pilgrim’s Progress. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it. Especially now, it offers insight and encouragement for the Christian walk. (It does have some scary scenes, so use discretion with younger children. I purchased our copy from Christian Book Distributors, but I’m sure that’s not the only place you can buy it.)

It was a day of rest and refreshment, and I soaked it up like a thirsty plant.

After painting and cleaning. Next step, new floors!

Sunday evening, I made a last-minute substitution—this week is Spring Break. That is, Spring Cleaning Break. I opted not to take spring break with the rest of the country, instead keeping my children on a school schedule at a time when everything else was turned upside down. Now the weather is nicer, the house is a mess, and we all need a break. That’s a wonderful thing about homeschooling. You can take random breaks—or not. You can break when public schools do—or not. You can follow a traditional school year or school year-around with quarterly breaks.

That’s why, on Monday, my children played outside and listened to audiobooks while I cleaned the kitchen in a way it hasn’t been cleaned since we moved in.  (I’m not proud of that fact, but it is a fact.) I allowed a full day for the kitchen, but it turns out it’s a two-day job, especially with three children going behind me and undoing much of the work. Meanwhile, there’s a Pokémon battle in the living room.  So just a normal day.

I have a lot of plans for this day, but break or not, I’ve learned to hold my plans loosely, because they might unravel—or God simply may have different plans for the day.