My Church Makes Me Happy!

As I left the Nursery at Church today, I was truly happy!  I thought, “Church makes me happy!”  Not just any church, but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Why?

Today there were lots of reasons.  In Sacrament Meeting the music and talks were wonderful.  They reminded me of the blessings I have, and helped me feel good about wanting to share my happiness with others.  I wish everyone could feel the happiness and joy that I feel.

Sunday School was also great.  We discussed the organization of the Church, and how it came about in an organized, step-by-step way that the Lord had prepared the way for for some time.  We discussed how we can hear His voice today – through reading the scriptures, including the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, and through our living Prophet and Apostles, who bear testimony the same as the original ones did.

Relief Society is always wonderful.  Meeting with so many other women who have the same desires, beliefs, and goals I do is truly inspirational.  We teach, strengthen, and encourage each other through the good times and the bad times of life.

And one of the most enjoyable parts of the Church is being able to serve, to work with the Lord to further His work, to watch over His children, and all be edified together.

My current calling, or service, is to sing with the Nursery children.  And we had a great time, singing a welcome song and “Do As I’m Doing” while shaking little bottles of colored rice, “I Am Like a Star Shining Brightly” walking around the room holding up yellow, smiling stars, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” holding up animal puppets, “Follow the Prophet” marching around the room holding pictures of our current Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and “I Love To See the Temple” sitting on their carpet squares and holding pictures of the Denver Temple.  What fun!  How inspirational!  Children are such a blessing!

Yes, my Church makes me happy.  No wonder I love it so much!  🙂

A Place to Set Aside Your Cares

Sitting in Church today, basking in the warm, energetic feelings of our opening song, “I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go”, it occurred to me that I was feeling much better than I have most of this week.

It has been an incredibly busy week, but even more so, an extremely emotionally challenging week.  Not much of that was personal, but my mind and heart were bombarded by the sufferings, worries, and challenges of those around me.  I had fallen into a state of discouragement and found myself wondering how to feel better – what could I do to raise my spirits?

And now, here was the answer.  By simply doing what I have done ‘most every Sunday since the day I was born – attending church at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – my wounds were being cleansed and bound up without my even paying much attention to the process.  I was being made whole again just because I was keeping the Lord’s commandments, living my life as I should, and participating in the great blessings that He has provided for us.

Ahhh, now I feel so much better, and ready to face the world and its concerns again.

I love the Church!  🙂

The Real Meaning of The Pledge of Allegiance

Today is the 4th of July, Independence Day, the 240th birthday of The United States of America!

We had a wonderful day, filled with family, work, fun, and fireworks.  Watching the fireworks, especially the Grand Finale’, was very moving as I thought about why we are celebrating, and what happened to give us cause to celebrate.

When we returned home, beloved hubby found this beautiful rendition by Fred Skelton about the meaning of our Pledge of Allegiance.  So here it is, for your enjoyment and edification.  This will be the best 5 minutes you can spend today.

You will be proud, and humbled, to be an American!  🙂

Singing With the Nursery

You remember I said that one of my callings (jobs) at church is Nursery Music Director?  Yesterday the fun began!

We have 2 nurseries now, the older kids are meeting separately from the younger ones.  So I visited the older ones first.

They were seated around a little table in their cute little chairs.  I sat down and was introduced to them as Sister Music.  Cute, huh?  🙂

The previous “Sister Music” had gone to great pains to have a box of items to help them with their singing:

• Little empty spice bottles filled with an inch of very colorful little stones that they can shake in time to the music.  We sang “Hello, Hello”, “Do As I’m Doing”, and “Fun To Do”, while shaking those little bottles.
• Tongue depressor sticks with a colorful “frowny” face attached to one end and a “smiley” face to the opposite end, to turn over while we sing “If You Chance to Meet a Frown”.
• The outline of our Denver temple drawn on a circle attached to a popsicle stick, to hold while they sing “I Love To See The Temple”.
• Pictures of our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, that they can hold as they march around the room singing, “Follow the Prophet”.
• Family members on popsicle sticks for them to hold up as they sing “Happy Family”.

So everything was already prepared for me, and all I had to do was sing and play with them!

15 minutes went by pretty quickly, then off I was with my “magic music box” to the younger kids.

They were more wiggly, but were sitting on their little carpet pieces most of the time.  They didn’t sing as much, but they loved holding the items, and marching around the room.  There were 2 teachers, and a couple moms and a dad in there too.

Again, we had great fun and the time was over before we knew it.  There is one thing though…

I do have some homework.

The sing a song about rolling your arms and getting ready for the prayer right before the closing prayer.

I need to learn it.  🙂

(and I thought I was done posting to my Primary is Fun category!)

Callingless No More! :)

I am no longer callingless.  In fact, I now have 2 callings!

The first is to be the assistant Ward employment specialist.  This will be assisting the Ward Employment Specialist (beloved hubby) as needed to help the folks in our ward (congregation) with their employment needs – looking for a job, building a resume, interviewing skills, and/or looking for better jobs than the one they may already have.

I know that beloved hubby loves working on this.  After all, work is an important part of life and is one of the first commandments God gave Adam: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” Genesis 3:19.  Although God said, “cursed is the ground for thy sake” (Genesis 3:17), it was not a punishment, it was a blessing “for thy sake”, but that’s a subject for another day.  🙂

The other calling I received is as Nursery Music Director, a fancy name for singing with the Nursery children (ages 18 months to 3 years) during the last 15 minutes of church.  This will be a lot of fun, especially since the last music director created several things for the kids to do while they are singing, and I’ve always loved singing.

So now I will be serving regularly at church again.  It wasn’t too hard a callingless period as I substituted as Relief Society teacher, chorister, and pianist in the interim, and was able to concentrate more fully on my visiting teaching, but there really is a reason why the Lord set up His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with a lay ministry (means we don’t get paid) and with pretty well every member being given a calling.

It does help when you feel needed and you have the opportunity to serve others, just as Jesus did.  You learn to love others, build your faith and skills, and rely on the Lord in ways you never would have otherwise.  And the Lord helps you to be successful, no matter the call you get, as it is His call for you and He wants you to be successful and to learn to bless others.

It is a most marvelous and awesome blessing!  🙂