T-Shirts and Priorities

I’m sure at one time or another, for whatever reason, we’ve gotten dressed hurriedly in the dark. I have left the house wearing unmatched socks for that very reason. Luckily, that’s something that’s easily hidden. Something that’s not as easily hidden is an inside-out shirt. I’ve done that, too, and I’ve gotten all the way to work before noticing. How embarrassing!

I recently purchased a few t-shirts that are “tagless.” They say they’re tagless, but they’re not really. They don’t have a tag in the normal place at the back of the neck. Instead, there is one stitched in the hem, which I suppose is because they don’t want a lawsuit from someone who put a red shirt in with the whites because there was no tag with washing instructions. I could say something here about false advertising, but frankly, I’m just happy not to have that tag scratching my neck anymore. The downside to this, however, it is now ridiculously easy to put a shirt on backwards (again, while dressing in the dark; you’d think I’d learn to turn on the light.)

Sometimes things strike me as being backward, the opposite of the way they should really be. The other day in a Bible class, we were discussing the importance of attending the services of the church. Our book offered excuses some people might make as to why they would skip one Sunday. Sickness was one of these excuses, and the point came up: If you feel well enough to go to work, you feel well enough to attend services. We weren’t discussing legitimate illnesses but those times when we just don’t feel well and would rather stay in bed. My own mother has asked me this, and still does on occasion: “If there was a movie you really wanted to see…do you feel well enough that you’d go?”

I completely understand what this implies: how do you really feel, and what are your priorities? Further, I want everyone to understand that I’m not criticizing this idea at all, nor am I criticizing the brilliant ladies taking part in the discussion (who have a better attendance record than I do). It just sounds a little odd to me…a little backward. How did going to work get to be the benchmark? Our jobs are important, sure. We rely on the money to pay bills, and our coworkers rely on us to get our jobs done. Matters are complicated by being absent. Take a week off from work for a vacation, and when you get back to work, you’ll need another vacation after you have to deal with all the paperwork that piled up while you were gone. Shouldn’t it be instead that we are so accustomed to going to church – habits can be good things, especially when not just going through the motions – that if we wake up one morning before work, not feeling well, we should ask ourselves if we’d go to church? How much more important is our soul than a day’s wages?

In a Bible class years ago, I heard someone say one of the wisest things ever when it comes to attending worship services: We don’t have to go worship God; we get to go worship God. It’s all in the perspective and attitude. It’s our priorities.

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25, NKJV)