The Primary Program Miracle

One of the really special things about our church is that it has a lay ministry. I am sure there are a lot of reasons for this but I saw one of the incredible benefits of it this past Sunday. Every fall each congregation’s children under twelve (called the primary) have an opportunity to provide the program during our sacrament meeting. We have the sacrament as a congregation and then the balance of the program is given by children as young as three sharing thoughts and songs about what they have learned this past year. It is one of the most inspiring and spirit-filled programs in the whole year.

In my leadership capacity, I was blessed to help the children prepare. It was a lot of work, honestly, and I did not even do most of it (the counselor in charge of music took the lead!). We went to every child during their class time and asked them questions about different topics we discussed throughout the year. Most of the answers were thoughtful and inspiring. Some weren’t but we tried to help those kids say something anyway. We then tweaked the answers a bit so they made sense and fit in the time given but mostly it was the children’s own words. We also decided to reach out to the kids that had not been to church in a while. This worked for some and for some it didn’t but this is where the miracle started.

There was a little boy that had not been to church in months. His parents are not members of our church and so he had been attending with his aunt. About six months ago, his parents decided that they did want him to attend so he had stopped coming. We tried to reach out to him but with limited success. We still gave him a part and set aside a chair for him in the choir seats with the other 90 children in our congregation’s primary. The first part of the miracle came when he showed up on Sunday morning! The next part came when he gladly said his part. The final part of the miracle came when I looked over at him after he had given his part and noticed his hand over his mouth. I then noticed a bit of vomit seeping out between the fingers. I reverently rushed him out of the chapel by a side door and to the bathroom. This amazing little boy held in the vomit until he got to the toilet. I was amazed. There was very little clean up since he was right over the toilet when he finished vomiting! I only had to clean his hands, shirt and trousers a bit. When I thought about all the horrible ways the situation could have been different, I realized that it was truly a miracle. This brings us full circle to why it is such a blessing to have a lay ministry. I don’t know if I would have had the opportunity to help this little boy like I did if I were not involved in the leadership of the congregation. I also would have missed out on the planning, stress, excitement, and amazement of helping the children in our congregation prepare for their big day. I suppose that is the biggest miracle of all for me – the opportunity to serve God’s little ones.