I was at church Sunday with my daughter and as we're leaving a lady there asked my daughter if she was doing church music camp this year I told her that although I am still on the music camp leadership and involved in the program, my daughter decided she didn't want to do camp this year - she wanted to take a stab at Gymnastics and Soccer.
The lady looked at me like I had just said we were worshipping the devil - then leaned down to my daughter and says "That's alright dear - you can talk to people at gymnastics about God". My reply "Or.........she could just learn how to do back flips". For cryin' out loud - she's 7 years old - it's not like she's surrounded by "bad association" from other 7 year olds at gymnastics simply because it's not held at the church!
Geeezzzzzzzzz - I am a very spiritual person and I am involved with my church and children's ministry. But - unlike my JW days, it does not have to be EVERY part of my life. It really is OK for kids to do normal fun activities just for...oh, I don't know.......FUN!!
It reminded me of my JW days as a kid when EVERYTHING we did had to revolve around the organization. You couldn't even go out to eat at McDonald's without praying over your food, examining the toys to be sure they were not of some evil pagan origin, yadda yadda yadda. Couldn't do extra-curricular activities because of the "bad association" and waisting time that could be spent in the ministry - couldn't go see movies if they were frowned on by the elders, couldn't (on and on and on)....GAG.
I'm glad that I was freed from that before my daughter came along - she has the opportunity to grow up NORMAL.