My wife tells me I shouldn’t say that word. I’m smart and I should expand my vocabulary, but sometimes you can only describe a really hard and bad day by how much it sucked. I’m not discounting the power and excitement of doing what we get to do. In kidmin circles, we talk about how Sunday should be the best day of every kids week. We know that Sunday is the super bowl and every day of the week leads to what happens on Sunday. How disappointing it must be when Sunday is anything but that.

Maybe I’m being naive, but I don’t often hear about how awful Sunday’s can sometimes be. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a Sunday #kidmin tweet saying, “well, today was a horrible disaster of a day.” I see lots of tweets about how amazing the day was. Are we editing? I know that the biggest challenge we face in kidmin is the number of volunteers and quality of volunteers serving in our ministries. I just wonder if we’re really being that honest.

I remember my children’s pastor admitting something to me after I had become a children’s pastor. He told me how some days after church, he would get in his car, sit there and cry.

He would cry.

I can’t tell you how powerful this confession was to me. There have been many memorable Sunday’s where I’ve locked myself in my office, turned out the lights and had a good cry. Why? Well, Sometimes Sunday sucks.

You know…

  • when a parent chews you out.
  • when all your volunteers in one room decide not to show up.
  • when the presentation computer catches on fire.
  • when the kids completely miss the point.

I have a handful of people on my staff who are completely new to ministry. Recently I’ve seen them have difficult Sundays. I felt the need to pull them aside and confess to them what my children’s pastor had confessed to me.

Sometimes, Sunday is just going to suck.

You may need to lock yourself in the bathroom and cry.

It’s perfectly normal.

We’re doing good work. We’re changing the world. Lives will never be the same. It only makes sense that the enemy will do everything within his power to disrupt our work.

Have better expectations. Some of your best days will be Sunday’s. Hopefully most of them will be Sundays. But it’s okay when its far less than your best.