Adults often believe that they know more than children in all areas of life. Sure, adults may be the ones to pay bills, drive, set schedules, perform difficult manual labor, prepare meals, and so on. It seems to me though, that no matter how much adults may know about the temporal things of life, children often have better intuitive knowledge about things pertaining to the soul.
Today, B and I had the privilege of teaching Primary. We had about 20-25 children present. Becky directed the flow of our time together (and played the piano for all of our songs), and B and I taught the sharing time lesson and directed the music. There were 3 particular moments that touched my heart:
The Opening Prayer. The sweet little boy who offered the prayer kept things so simple and pure, yet also profound to me as an adult. His prayer contained the following: "Thank you for our life. Please help us." (He addressed Heavenly Father, and closed in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.) Those simple phrases carried deep meaning to my heart. Our life. Our existence. Our purpose here. All praise and thanks be to God that we exist! We wouldn't be able to thank Him for anything else if we didn't have this opportunity to live. And because we live, and He is our Creator, we need help. He is the one to send help. If I could carry this simple prayer in my heart more often, perhaps I would feel more gratitude and wonder for all of God's creations, and I could maintain the necessary humility to always remember Him and seek Him.
The Power Fist. When singing Choose the Right, I invited the children to do a powerful fist pump into the air every time we sang the words "Choose the right." They LOVED it! What surprised me even more was when one of the older boys (who was one of the more resistant and disrespectful kids) continued to use this strong gesture later in Primary while singing about about something that I could see he truly believed. I will be curious to see if he continues using this motion the next few weeks while I'm here.
Visual Testimonies. Near the end of Primary, we sang a song titled __________. This song was fairly long, but the children knew all of the words, and they sang it with "vigor and vim." Hearing the children sing this song about their Savior and their own personal worth was very moving. They love this song, and they love Jesus. The way they sat focused and engaged in their chairs; they way they delivered each word of the song with conviction; the way their eyes and smiles lit up the room with excitement and understanding... I could see that they know these things to be true. Not only did I see this with their singing, but also with the actions that followed. They shared books and crayons as they colored pictures, helped tidy the room before leaving, and they jumped at the opportunity to receive an assignment to help in Primary next week. Yes, there was still some fighting, and a few small children had fallen asleep in their chairs (so precious!), but the overall Spirit in the room was tangible and humbling.
It's no wonder that we are told to become as a little child.
Today, B and I had the privilege of teaching Primary. We had about 20-25 children present. Becky directed the flow of our time together (and played the piano for all of our songs), and B and I taught the sharing time lesson and directed the music. There were 3 particular moments that touched my heart:
The Opening Prayer. The sweet little boy who offered the prayer kept things so simple and pure, yet also profound to me as an adult. His prayer contained the following: "Thank you for our life. Please help us." (He addressed Heavenly Father, and closed in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.) Those simple phrases carried deep meaning to my heart. Our life. Our existence. Our purpose here. All praise and thanks be to God that we exist! We wouldn't be able to thank Him for anything else if we didn't have this opportunity to live. And because we live, and He is our Creator, we need help. He is the one to send help. If I could carry this simple prayer in my heart more often, perhaps I would feel more gratitude and wonder for all of God's creations, and I could maintain the necessary humility to always remember Him and seek Him.
The Power Fist. When singing Choose the Right, I invited the children to do a powerful fist pump into the air every time we sang the words "Choose the right." They LOVED it! What surprised me even more was when one of the older boys (who was one of the more resistant and disrespectful kids) continued to use this strong gesture later in Primary while singing about about something that I could see he truly believed. I will be curious to see if he continues using this motion the next few weeks while I'm here.
Visual Testimonies. Near the end of Primary, we sang a song titled __________. This song was fairly long, but the children knew all of the words, and they sang it with "vigor and vim." Hearing the children sing this song about their Savior and their own personal worth was very moving. They love this song, and they love Jesus. The way they sat focused and engaged in their chairs; they way they delivered each word of the song with conviction; the way their eyes and smiles lit up the room with excitement and understanding... I could see that they know these things to be true. Not only did I see this with their singing, but also with the actions that followed. They shared books and crayons as they colored pictures, helped tidy the room before leaving, and they jumped at the opportunity to receive an assignment to help in Primary next week. Yes, there was still some fighting, and a few small children had fallen asleep in their chairs (so precious!), but the overall Spirit in the room was tangible and humbling.
It's no wonder that we are told to become as a little child.
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