Songs

 

6:10 every morning, Monday-Friday.

They sometimes complain about the early hour.  They tease each other and sometimes they fall asleep.  

But they come.

These teens gather at my house for seminary.  We spend 50 minutes learning and studying scriptures together.

This year we are studying the New Testament.  And this week we were reading in Luke 1:46-55 which has the passage known as Mary's Song.

"My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior."

Some of my favorite words of scripture.  

We read and discussed how Mary used words to share her feelings and testimony. 

But that we can also share our own "songs" in our own way and I challenged them to consider how they best share their love of the Lord.

I set out some simple supplies and thought the kids would probably do some quick sketches and move on.  

Instead I was greeted by this:

"Do you have a guitar?" 

"Can we use the piano and harp?"

"Do you have a pencil sharpener?" 

Kids were searching for ideas and hard at work.  Our time quickly ended and I made the decision to extend the activity into the next day.

Which is why I sat in awe this morning as one young man played and sang the song he had written about his relationship with Jesus and another girl learned to play a song on the piano as a duet with my daughter on the harp.  

They performed in the safety of the other kids gathered around in encouragement. 

Glancing at the table covered by beautiful artwork and symbolism, the various songs of these kids were amazing.  

I was reminded how different each one was and yet powerful in their simplicity and using their own gifts.  

They have glimpsed the vision of how loved and precious they are as children of God.  Life isn't perfect and they each have very real challenges, but they share their lights through their own songs. 

And not only is it enough, but it's glorious.