Vacation Bible School and the Power of Children

Our church just completed its Bible School session yesterday. We generally have it with the Boones Mill Church of the Brethren because we don't have enough young children in our church to have it by ourselves - plus we enjoy the fellowship of other churches!

Every year for probably the last six or seven years, I have taught music to the children. At first, I had a very good pianist working with me, but as technology has evolved, I now use CD's to accompany our singing as you just can't replicate the arrangements on the CD's on a piano.

"Get to the point, already!" I can hear you saying. Well, the point is this: every year, I say "no more, I'm going to let someone else do it next year." But every year, I go back - with a sort of "oh gee, I really don't want to do this", but yet excitement because of the music and wondering what we'll end up singing. This year was no different - except that for the first time, my daughter and her friends would not be in a class and so would not be coming to me for music. While I knew they were happy about being "too old" for a Bible School class, I was a little sad because I enjoyed teaching them and hearing them sing. I was also sad because I knew Carrie wouldn't be there for the last session due to her beach trip.

This is where the power of children comes in...(yes, there is a point)...even though things were different this year (as above), the children that DID come to me, although not my own, were happy, enthusiastic, well-mannered, and ready to rock! I let them pick out the class-specific song they wanted to sing, we did movements to the words, and each class did something special that no other class did. For example, the pre-K class made their own "shakers" (margarine tubs with beads in them) for the theme song "Shake It Up" and quickly learned when exactly to shake their tubs. Another group memorized their words and had two soloists, and the third group chose a rather difficult song but performed it very well.

The power was this - even though I was feeling down on Saturday and didn't really want to go to VBS at all, I knew I had to - and thanks to the kids, I was so glad I did! The smiles on their faces and their desire to perform their song to the best of their ability was so heartwarming and lifted me up out of my "poor me" depression. You can't be depressed around young children - they won't allow it!! Without even knowing it, they made me feel better and glad I was there.

Thanks to all of you, VBS kids!!