Primary Program Talk:
I would like to start by sharing my journal entry from July
31st of this year.
Today, instead of going to Gospel Doctrine, I subbed in the
library for Patti. As I sat listening to the Primary sing across the hall, I
felt a longing to be with them. I felt the warmth of the Holy Ghost as their
sweet voices filled the hallway.
I decided that I would just join them “remotely” that day.
So I pulled out the crayons and a white blank sheet of paper and began to draw
two phrases that have made all of the difference in my life.
Now you are welcome to chuckle at my drawings, I am an
accountant after all and art is not my strength.
I am a Child of God
And
Teach me to Walk in the Light of His Love
As I left church that day, I felt so calm and at peace after
having felt the love of our Savior and Heavenly Father through our sweet
primary. And I thought, I wonder when I will get to serve in primary again.
And it was only 4 days later that I received a call to be
released from gospel doctrine and to be put in as the 1st Counselor
in the Primary Presidency.
Some may call that a coincidence, but I do not believe in
coincidences.
When I was in elementary school I remember hearing this
phrase:
“Everything I need to know, I Learned in Kindergarten”
Among those things were the golden rule- do unto others as
you would have them do to you
Don’t judge a person until you had walked a mile in their
moccasins
Be kind
Share
And while these are all good and important things to learn
as a child, there are many critical truths missing from those teachings
President Russell M. Nelson has warned that “in coming days,
it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing,
comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost”
I believe, in fact, that “Everything you need to know, can
be found in Primary”
In Primary through word and song we learn:
I am a
Child of God
I lived
in Heaven
My
Heavenly Father Loves Me
Jesus
Watches over Me
I Know
My Father Lives
The
Holy Ghost can comfort us and is our true eternal friend.
Follow
the Prophet
Keep
the Commandments
Choose
the Right
Search,
Ponder, and Pray
Reverence is Love
Kindness
Begins with Me
And the
Scriptures give us power and keep us safe from Sin.
I’m sure for many of you, as I read those phrases, could
hear the music in your minds, or silently sang the words as you heard them.
Music has always played a powerful role in my spiritual,
emotional and mental wellbeing over the years.
I can’t count the number of times I have sung primary songs
in my mind to bring me comfort when I was scared, or lonely, or sad. And
oftentimes I have even thought of them when I am happy and feeling the Spirit.
With the scary and crazy times we live in, where Satan’s
power grows ever stronger, it is critical that these beautiful Primary Seeds of
Truth are available to as many children as possible. They will need and will
use everything they learn in Primary throughout their whole lives!
Alma 37:6 “Behold I say unto you, that by small and simple
things are great things brought to pass”
And while Primary may seem simple, and yes, the children are
quite small, you would be amazed to hear their knowledge, listen to the
thoughtfulness of the prayers they give, and see the kindness and love they
share with one another.
There is so much not only that we can learn from children
but that we must learn from them
Mosiah 3 tells us
19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from
the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the
enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint
through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive,
meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the
Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
and
3rd Nephi 11 reminds us
38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized
in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the
kingdom of God.
At a very early age, I learned that my prayers were heard
and would be answered from my primary teachers.
I was in the 1st grade and living in Houston, TX,
and had worn my favorite charm bracelet to school. At some point during the
day, I lost my favorite charm. A sterling silver snowman. I remember being so
sad about losing that snowman.
I remember praying that night, that I would be able to find
it.
The next day I was on the swings at recess, and a little boy
came up to me that I didn’t recognize, and he said it this yours?
In his hand was the silver snowman.
I exclaimed where did you find that?
He said, it was in the sandbox.
I know our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ love
us, know our names, and hear and answer our prayers no matter our age.
And I know we cannot even comprehend the special love they
have for your primary children.
As a primary presidency, we want you to know that we love
your children, pray over your children, and take the mantel of our callings
very seriously.
The responsibility of parents and leaders to nurture the
seeds of faith, and help the children to know that they are children of God,
children of the covenant, and disciples of Jesus Christ should be all of our
highest priority so that they may be able to endure this mortal existence with
the knowledge of who they are, where they came from, why they are here, and how
much they are loved.
We are so grateful so many of you have come to our primary
program today. If anything touches your heart or there is something you would
like to tell the primary children we would encourage you to write it down on
the comment cards and return them to the baskets at the end of the meeting.
I also want to express my gratitude to Kim Dillingham, Pam
Lee, Cecily Cooper, and Cindy Eaton for their countless hours of preparation
for this program, without which this presentation would not even be possible.
I pray that you will feel the love of our Heavenly Father
and Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost this day as these precious
Children of God share their testimonies through word and song.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
At this time we would like to invite all of the primary
children up to the stand.
