God truly blessed them with patience and talent!

Last night was our preschool and elementary Christmas program at church. I'll be honest with you, it is my fault it is so snowy for I prayed very hard for the snow. Honestly, I was terrified it would be a disaster. I had reassured everyone who said the 2-K group's practice was chaotic with a smile, but in the back of my mind I was really worried. I would have never let on that I was concerned for they were working really hard at herding this chaos through about three months worth of Sundays. We had fights and wrestling matches on stage, kids running around everywhere, ZERO attention span... you name it it probably happened at at least one practice. Trying to get 2 and 3 year old kids to pay attention for about 25 minutes is next to impossible-- at least pay attention in an organized way. Our practice bounced all over the church from classrooms, to the sanctuary, to the old gym... nothing was really consistent other than the teachers involved. I really was worried about not getting everyone together to go through the whole program as a rehearsal. I foresaw a mess and really felt I would let down parents and teachers and the kids. I could not see how this program was going to bring glory to God.

Um well, as the time neared and I had the stage all set and the snow began to really pile up, I began to call off the snow (well, you know what I mean-- pray off my original prayer)! Somehow, I got the feeling that the program was going to be OK. The little kids that morning in costume were so cute that there was no way it could be bad. They could stand on stage and scream and it would have been adorable. At about 30 minutes before people were supposed to arrive, I started getting a couple of calls about bad roads and a few who were not going to attempt to get out. At about 5 minutes till, no one other than about three of us were there and I began to think that the program was going to fail for lack of participants. Then at 5:00, just about everyone showed up. They dressed and it was a room filled with energy. I was a nervous wreck. I wasn't even doing anything but organizing it and the reception afterward. Let me tell you the parents were amazing. They came even in all of that mess of snow and were so awesome in cheering on the kids with camera flashes and applause. The program was amazing. It was perfect. It was a God thing! It had to be because it wasn't me. The teachers who rehearsed with the kids and led the kids in this play were great! They worked so hard. God truly blessed them with patience and talent!

I am like a new mom when I think about my kids at BCCC. They are why I LOVE my job. They always make any work or volunteering on my part worth it. As I see them and they come hug me and smile when they see me... it is like instant gratification. Funny how God gave me this desire and now fulfills it every week! It doesn't matter how down or discouraged I get, on Sunday morning when I see the kids, all of that goes out the window and once again God is faithful to the desires of my heart. He put them there, why would I doubt He would fulfill them.

Now, I pray that I will have no more doubts. God's plan is just that-- God's plan. Not mine. I can do what I can to facilitate it, but it is not mine and it is not my efforts that make it successful. Only God could cause the kids to worship Him with music and dancing when their leader can't dance or carry a tune and is totally embarrassed as the parents peer in the window and as the other teachers participate! I'm telling you what, our worship time in the pre-K is a blast for me too. It doesn't matter that my part of the logistics of kids and coats and transitions and pick up are all a little funky and unorganized-- God is just smiling at the least of us singing and dancing praise to Him. He could care less about the hunt for coats and the noise in the halls, and the fact that some teachers are still needed-- The point is this-- that the kids praise Him and hear Biblical truths. That is His main priority. Mine too now! I just need to loosen up, stop worrying and fretting and taking everything so personally. It is not my program, it is His and what He wills, nothing will stop-- not even nasty weather and an unorganized, unskilled, wacko of a leader.