Heart Song

Our church just finished Vaction Bible School. It started Sunday and ended last night. The youngest class was for 2,3, and 4 year olds. I was just going to stay with Mae the first night, but the class was full and they needed extra volunteers for the other nights. So I had a front row seat to witness Mae's behavior, involvment and attitudes. Mae had a great time during craft and snack time. She played hard with her friends on the playground when it was our turn to play. She listened well and paid attention at story time. She even remembered learning about the plagues from the Old Testament and told Jon about the frogs and "bumblebees" (they were flies in the Bible, but she remembered bees) when we got home one night. It was during the singing when she would cling to me and not let go until we were clearly out of the sanctuary. I think it had a lot to do with all the older kids around, the people dressed in costumes to take part in the story later, and the puppets popping up from behind the choir rail. Either way she would just sit there showing no emotion at all, picking her nose for entertainment or cling to me in fear. However, last night they gave all the kids a CD of the songs they had been learning (along with motions) and much to my surprise when I put that CD in the car this morning Mae started singing, smiling and doing every motion that she had been watching this week. At first I was a little annoyed at this since all of her friends and teachers had been trying to get her to loosen up and sing and dance, but she had no part in that at all. I thought to myself, "I need to take a video of this, because no one at church is going to beleive me." My next thought was, "What does that matter anyway?" The important thing is that she is learning it, she is enjoying it now, and the words she is singing are about the love, faithfulness and power of God.
I find myself doing this very same thing every week. A song at church may strike my emotions by either making me want to dance or lay on my face and cry, worshiping and praising God. But, do I do this at church....not exactly. I have, however, done this in the privacy of my own quiet times at home. I don't want to push Mae to perform, I want to help her practice in praise. I'm very proud of Mae and I hope she always holds a song in her heart no matter where she is or how she expresses it.