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Preschool

Did you know I go to preschool? Its true! We start out with a greeting in "circle time" then we have a snack, more "circle time" and a craft. Of course, for us grown ups, they don't call it preschool, they call it MOPS!

Please, don't think this is bitterness, it is simple irony. I am not sure where along the way it was decide that "good Christian women" like to do xyz. Sometime MOPS makes me feel like I am 80. Matt laughs at some of the crafts I bring home and asks if I want to hang them on the fridge. He isn't being mean, he just knows that it is really NOT me to be told what to make and how to make it.

My dream for MOPS? I would love something that acknowledged us a full and complete modern women. I am more than a mother and more than a wife, not that I don't love those titles. I spend my life doing the "wife/mother" thing and sometimes I would love a chance to explore other aspects of who I am. What if we started a book club? And please, don't make us read Christian literature. What if we all talked about what we did before kids and offered to help each other out with our talents. You were an accountant pre-children? Great! You can help us figure out taxes and budgeting! You were a teacher? Perfect! Lets have an open forum of what you think of the schools in our area. What would happen if we had a fashion consultant come in and discuss trends that work for busy women. What if we had a "coffee house" atmosphere with comfy chairs and time to just sit and connect with other mothers about things we care about.

Please don't think that I am not grateful for my MOPS group. I love those girls and know how hard the leadership works to pull it off, after all I am a MOPS leadership drop-out. Sometimes it just feels like another "christian" shoe that doesn't really fit me right. I think the politics (must preach Gospel 2 times a year, etc...) get in the way of what the ministry could be. And don't even get me started on the "MOPS and Pops" night.

I am not saying my way is right or even better. It is just different. Maybe no one else really wants different. Maybe everyone else would hate my style of MOPS and that is ok. Sometimes it it just hard to put on my happy face and play my role as "happy mommy and wife who loves Jesus."

Comments

Kari said…
Ok, now I don't have kids and have never been to MOPS before, but I completely understand what you're saying.

I think sometimes we just long for genuine, raw, honest community with people who just "get us".

Hmmmm...sounds like God might need to use you as a leader sometime soon...
09 December, 2008 09:31
amanda said…
Ironically, this is how I felt when I first started coming to mops. I almost didn't come back, and I thought about dropping out a few times that first year. Especially coming from a pretty modern-thinking church, I felt like I had stepped back in time 50 years.

I don't know what happened, maybe it was meeting people who were in the group that I realized had a more progressive way of thinking. Or maybe I'm just a conformist and I adjusted and am now comfortable with the way it is. Not sure.

I have that authentic, relational, community with the people in my church, and so maybe I don't long for it so much at mops. Even so, that's the way I would hope it could be.
09 December, 2008 10:00
Courtney O. said…
MOPS never jived for me. I tried it at two different churches but it just wasn't my gig. At this stage of mothering I agree that what I enjoy is engaging other parts of myself with other women. (not just all mom stuff. --but at the beginning of motherhood I needed all mom stuff b/c I was drowning!)
12 December, 2008 14:51
Honeycutt Family said…
This made me laugh--I've never thought about it like this before! I don't know why, but I have just always loved and accepted the way it was run. I think because I like structure and almost all of the people have always seemed genuine to me, which drew me in.
14 December, 2008 02:26
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