Primary Program

I'm embarrassed that it's been three months since I've written anything here; it certainly isn't because I don't have any messages to share. It's more a combination of being busy and the timing not being quite right for some of the messages I do want to share. 

Anyway, I do have a message I want to share today...
Each year, in every ward in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Primary kids, ages 3 to 11, present a Primary program during sacrament meeting, where the kids sign songs and do quick little speaking parts . The day of the Primary program is pretty much the most anticipated Sunday of the year...unless you happen to be the person in charge of writing and directing this program, in which case it is the most terrifying Sunday of the year because you're worried that someone's parents will be upset with how it turned out or some kid will trip and fall on his face and break his nose, or the super wiggly kids will bounce on the seats...or who knows what. So, the past couple weeks as we've been practicing for the program, and especially this morning as I knew we were only hours away from putting on this program. Actually, I really, really didn’t want to go to church. I didn’t feel very good and I was pretty nervous about all the million things that could go wrong.

Of course, I went to church, and was pretty nervous still. We had the opening hymn for the day, and the prayer, and the sacrament, and as I was sitting there partaking of the sacrament, stressing out about the Primary program, the thought came to me that there are things that are way more important than the Primary program--like the sacrament where we reflect on the atoning sacrifice of our Savior and all that He has done for us. That was definitely a good reminder for me and helped me focus better and not stress out so much.

After that, we got all the kids settled into their places on the stand, and as soon as the first few kids got up to say their parts, I realized it was all going to be okay. And it was way more than okay--the kids did a super job and I was very impressed with them. They sang the songs so well and spoke so clearly. Since I was facing them, I could see their faces and as I was looking at them, it hit me why we go through all the effort and stress and worrying to do something like this—because whether they know it or not, those kids were feeling the Spirit. I could just see it in their faces as they were singing, that they were feeling it, that the Spirit was teaching them that the things they were singing about and talking about were true. And that’s what made all the stress (like having 6 kids move in after I had the program written and having to add parts for all of them!) worth it, because it’s worth anything for them to be able to feel the Spirit and to have their testimonies grow. It was just awesome to see that. It wasn’t about making the parents happy or putting on a good program or anything; it was about giving the kids the opportunity to share the things that they believe so that the Spirit could testify to them of the truthfulness of those things. And as an added bonus, the adults got to feel the Spirit to and to rejoice in how blessed we are to have a Savior and to be taught by His little children today.