Post by pmillerbbkz on Jan 30, 2009 0:15:15 GMT -5
Hello, all,
I was just called last weekend to be the Primary chorister in our ward - finally. I say finally because about 5 years ago, a new bishopric member extended to me a call to "do the music in Primary." I thought that meant chorister (wouldn't you??), but the next thing I knew, my halfway-through-John-Thompson-Second-Grade-Book skills found themselves seated at the Primary piano. By far one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Poor kids! But we all survived for a few years, then two years of Valiants, and now, finally, chorister.
I've done it before unofficially as a counselor filling in and officially for a couple of years. I'm so excited to get the chance to do it again! It was so cool to go through the old poster box last Sunday after church. I thought of the different sisters who had made the various posters and hints down through the years since our old branch days. The "Primary Colors" poster was made by Sister McNeal in 1985, the year I was baptized and taught CTRs. 24 years of the histories of the Ridgely and Milford Branches and now the Harrington Ward are in that box.
It's a special kinship we share, we Primary choristers. Only we know the quest for the perfect picture, the quiet humming and singing of the lyrics over and over as we have sought inspiration for the best method to present them, playing the cassette (nowadays the CD) everywhere we go until our family is ready to jump out of the car to escape the strains of those 8 songs. Only the Primary chorister knows that feeling of packing up the bag and stacking the posters and motivational devices to the wail of the sax and the words, "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!" then stumbling off to bed wondering how she'll ever get the kids and the Singing Time stuff all to church the next day without a major mishap. (Of course Dad has an early meeting.) Then there's the fretting after that disastrous final rehearsal before the Presentation, pleading with Heavenly Father to help the children to remember the words and to sing out! And of course, He always does, and they do, and everybody says that it was the best Presentation to date, whether it was or not. No other calling in the Church can compare - and today we can even print our pictures from the computer instead of wielding scissors and leafing through every old Church magazine we can get our hands on. We truly live in amazing times! But most importantly, we are Heavenly Father's conduits for the Spirit to touch those little people and to plant in their minds and hearts the words and tunes that will live on in them and be there when then they need to "hum their favorite hymns" and when they sing to their own children someday . Isn't it just the best calling ever???!!!
So, yeah, I'm about half-crazy, have a great spouse and four great kids, and that's about it. I've already seen some really great ideas here and hope to find more in the future.
I was just called last weekend to be the Primary chorister in our ward - finally. I say finally because about 5 years ago, a new bishopric member extended to me a call to "do the music in Primary." I thought that meant chorister (wouldn't you??), but the next thing I knew, my halfway-through-John-Thompson-Second-Grade-Book skills found themselves seated at the Primary piano. By far one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Poor kids! But we all survived for a few years, then two years of Valiants, and now, finally, chorister.
I've done it before unofficially as a counselor filling in and officially for a couple of years. I'm so excited to get the chance to do it again! It was so cool to go through the old poster box last Sunday after church. I thought of the different sisters who had made the various posters and hints down through the years since our old branch days. The "Primary Colors" poster was made by Sister McNeal in 1985, the year I was baptized and taught CTRs. 24 years of the histories of the Ridgely and Milford Branches and now the Harrington Ward are in that box.
It's a special kinship we share, we Primary choristers. Only we know the quest for the perfect picture, the quiet humming and singing of the lyrics over and over as we have sought inspiration for the best method to present them, playing the cassette (nowadays the CD) everywhere we go until our family is ready to jump out of the car to escape the strains of those 8 songs. Only the Primary chorister knows that feeling of packing up the bag and stacking the posters and motivational devices to the wail of the sax and the words, "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!" then stumbling off to bed wondering how she'll ever get the kids and the Singing Time stuff all to church the next day without a major mishap. (Of course Dad has an early meeting.) Then there's the fretting after that disastrous final rehearsal before the Presentation, pleading with Heavenly Father to help the children to remember the words and to sing out! And of course, He always does, and they do, and everybody says that it was the best Presentation to date, whether it was or not. No other calling in the Church can compare - and today we can even print our pictures from the computer instead of wielding scissors and leafing through every old Church magazine we can get our hands on. We truly live in amazing times! But most importantly, we are Heavenly Father's conduits for the Spirit to touch those little people and to plant in their minds and hearts the words and tunes that will live on in them and be there when then they need to "hum their favorite hymns" and when they sing to their own children someday . Isn't it just the best calling ever???!!!
So, yeah, I'm about half-crazy, have a great spouse and four great kids, and that's about it. I've already seen some really great ideas here and hope to find more in the future.
to my eyes.