May I say that I simply love my church calling?
I love it. Love it, love it, love it.
Let's be honest--Primary is awesome. And Primary music is awesome. Therefore, being the Primary chorister is the awesomest form of awesome.
I'm particularly gushy about my calling because today was our Primary program. I know I was around to lead the children during last year's program, but I had been put into my calling just a month before, so I was still very much getting the hang of everything.
So this year, I have much more stock in the program because it was my job to teach eight songs to the kids well enough for them to sing them with gusto in front of the congregation. And the kids did it. So well.
I'm not trying to claim any of the glory for myself; in fact, I think it's a miracle that I've even survived this long. All the credit goes to the kids, their parents, and the Spirit.
I can't tell you how many times I've gotten choked up while singing with the kids. Part of that may be contributed to the pregnancy hormones, but I know an even greater part of that is the Holy Ghost. And today while we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" with the kids singing, the congregation singing, the organ playing and the piano playing, it was everything I could do to keep it together and at least mouth the words while I was leading.
And here's a shout-out to our four-year-old and her first Primary program. Bekah is a very outgoing little kid who has always looks forward to sitting on the stand and giving talks during Primary, so I thought she'd do great on the stand during sacrament meeting. But a combination of all the people looking at her and the absence of her beloved Sunbeam teacher (who was out of town for her mother's funeral) had her in tears walking off the stand, coming to me and asking if she could sit with her daddy. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I'm lonely!" she proclaimed.
She sat next to me on the front row of the pews until it was her class' turn to say their parts, then she rejoined them on the stand to say as part of a choral reading, "Family members have important responsibilities." Then she got in line to say her individual part: "I'm Rebekah Grover. I'm the oldest child in my family. I help my mom and dad by weeding the flower garden."
She knew her part by heart, but when she saw all the other little kids getting help from the member the Primary presidency, she decided she needed it too. Then the Sunbeams lined up around the microphone to say, "I will obey my parents." After that, she was brave enough to sit with her class, so I didn't have any more little visitors on my bench.
And even though the program ended just hours ago, you can bet I've already started planning for next year's songs. I have the church's 2010 Primary outline downloaded, and I'm just trying to decide if our 40 Primary kids can memorize all nine verses of "Follow the Prophet" by next September.