How Firm a Foundation

I am finally feeling better...yay! After 4 days of lying around in my pjs watching tv, it was nice to finally get dressed and do my hair. As nice as it is to be lazy, it definitely gets old after while.

One thing funny about this last week is that Natalie has figured out how to use the pump soap dispenser in the main bathroom. I was doing her hair yesterday in the bathroom when the doorbell rang. I thought it was a neighbor kid looking to play with Kimberly or Alicia, but since they were out with their dad, I ran to get it thinking I would get back to Natalie real quick. No, it was the neighbor collecting for Friends of Scouting. In the 5 minutes it took me to take care of that, Natalie had emptied about half the soap container into her hair!! Do you know how long it takes to get soap out of fine toddler hair? A long time...sigh...now she tries to do that everytime someone forgets to close the bathroom door. She did it again today while we were getting changed after church. She smells a little soapy now (I guess I didn't get all the soap out - oh well, I guess it can't hurt).

Anyway, at church I am the primary chorister and have deemed it my all-time favorite calling ever. No where have I been able to feel the spirit as often as I have in primary, especially teaching the music. Ask yourself, what do you remember the most about your time in primary? More often than not, you will remember the primary music, so I am thrilled that I have the chance to teach these special kids the wonderful songs laden with the gospel, helping to build their testimonies.

This month's song assignment was How Firm a Foundation. When I first read that, I thought to myself, "How in the heck are these kids going to learn such a hard song?" They have to learn words like omnipotent, upheld, dismayed, etc. I wasn't sure they could do it, but I set to work at the beginning of the month teaching them verse one. I was astounded at how quickly they learned it, despite it's difficulty. They learned verse 1 really well by week 2, so I started in on verse 3 on week 3. I learned some really interesting things about this song as I was teaching it this month.

In verse three, the words are written so that it is Heavenly Father or Christ actually speaking to us directly. I have not found another hymn that does this. There are a lot of hymns that refer to what Christ and Heavenly Father have told us in the scriptures, but none where they can be directly quoted so to speak.

I also found a quote from an article about men and depression that was eye-opening:

"Every single military man or veteran interviewed for this article, who has also served in battle, quoted verse three word-for-word and attributed great comfort and hope to those times that the Lord spoke these words to them as they went out into a battle situation. I asked my son, who served on night patrols and guarding schools and other institutions in downtown Bagdad, if there was something - some scripture or something...He didn't even let me finish before quoting this verse to me. 'It wasn't just in my head,' he explained forcefully, 'Heavenly Father was speaking it to me every time I was entering danger. He was promising me..."

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen and help thee thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

I am simply astounded at how well these primary kids have learned two verses of one of the more difficult hymns in our hymnal. It is a testiment to me that kids have a special ability to learn quickly, even things we deem as being too hard for them. We have felt the spirit abound in our primary this month as we have learned how important it is to have a firm foundation and how the Lord will always help us in times of need.