The Heart of a Child

Have you ever had a CD that brings you joy from the first to the last song?  A couple years ago I found “that” CD.  It was a contemporary arrangement of classic hymns, and it flooded memories of my grandmother worshipping God from her kitchen.  The music brought me great joy and served as the perfect travel piece for the many carpool runs I made during the day with a preschooler and elementary aged child.

One afternoon when I picked up my daughter from school I had “that” CD playing in the car, she asked, “Mom can you play #9″?  Well, song #9 was an arrangement of “By and By” sung in the language of Kituba from Africa.  I played the song and took just a moment to see what it was about this song that she enjoyed so much.  I pulled over and in the rearview mirror I watched her expressions while she listened to the song.  My 7 year old daughter and my 4 year old son where truly enjoying the song.  I thought my children just tolerated my choice of music, but they where actually listening, in fact they had a favorite song on my CD and knew the number.  When I asked them what they liked about the song so much, considering they couldn’t understand the lyrics, my daughter replied, “they are praising my God”. 

She didn’t overthink it, she didn’t question the words, she allowed the music to take her senses to a state of worship.  The words were spoken in a language she had never heard or understood, but she could hear the celebration of our King beating through the drums and carrying through the voices lifted in praise.

The children of God break all language, culture, and economic barriers.  It’s a celebration of love, and it beats with the heart of every child.  Can you hear it?

At Mt. Bethel we are blessed to share that celebration with God’s children and are intentional in efforts to connect the children at Mt. Bethel to God’s children both locally and globally.  “Kids In Motion” is a new program designed to give children a “hands on” approach to serving, praying and understanding God’s big world and all His children.  Children will participate in “hands on” mission projects to prepare, pack, and make items during Sunday School to be shared with children locally and globally.   Check out “Kids In Motion” and other programs for children on our website.

Sherri Juliani, Elementary Coordinator, Children’s Ministries