Wednesday, January 16, 2013

"Introducing" A Child of God

This song really needs no introduction - nursery kids know it, but, that doesn't mean we can't make it fun. (Image from Didi @ Relief Society linked to Susan Fitch's design site)
So for both, I am definitely going to use the "In a nutshell" idea from sugardoodle. I can really see them having fun with this one (Image from Sugardoodle)  Then, at least for senior, I am going to use this paragraph I found at Sugardoodle which is actually in the Primary 4 lesson manual. (It is currently the last paragraph at the bottom):
Primary 4 Manual: "In 1957 the Primary General Board . asked Naomi W. Randall and Mildred T. Pettit . to write a [song about the need of children to be taught the gospel]. Naomi Randall reported: 'That evening, I got down on my knees and prayed aloud, pleading that our Heavenly Father would let me know the right words. Around 2:00 A.M. I awakened and began to think again about the song. Words came to my mind. . I immediately got up and began to write the words down as they had come to me. Three verses and a chorus were soon formed. I gratefully surveyed the work, drank of the message of the words, and returned to my bedroom where I knelt before my Father in Heaven to say "Thank you!".  "The words of the chorus originally read, 'Teach me all that I must know / To live with him some day.' A few years after the song was published, Spencer W. Kimball, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, attended a conference. where a Primary children's chorus sang the song. Naomi Randall said: 'On the trip home he talked with a Primary General Board member [and] expressed his love for the song, then stated that there was one word in the chorus that concerned him. He wondered if Sister Randall would consider changing the line that says "Teach me all that I must know" to "Teach me all that I must do." Of course I gladly accepted his suggestion.  " 'I wondered why I didn't include that thought at the time the lyrics were first written. But as time went on I came to feel very sincerely that this was the way the Lord wanted the song to evolve, because it became a teaching moment for members all over the Church and impressed upon their minds that knowing the gospel is not all that is required; it is the day-by-day doing the Lord's will and keeping the commandments that help us reach our eternal goal' " (in Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns, pp. 303-4).
Isn't that super cool?!!! I had heard this story before except the last part: "I wondered why I didn't include that thought at the time...."
I am sure we have all had that thought - why didn't I think of that before - that was so simple - why couldn't I have just come up with that in the first place - and most everyone has heard the changing of the know to do - and it is a teaching moment that we all remember. Isn't Heavenly Father awesome and all knowing? I love these times when His eternal providence shows through!

No comments:

Post a Comment