Praise to the Man

I am the primary chorister in our ward which is sooooooo much fun and soooooo much work. The song for May was "Praise to the Man" (I hope all you people with kids in primary know that because your kids have been singing it around the house!). I was super concerned about teaching this song- especially to junior primary. Here are some of the words: communed, Jehovah, anointed, seer, blessed, dispensation, extol, revere (all in the first verse), hail, ascended, traitors, tyrants, vain, mingling, and conquer (chorus). phew. Seemed impossible to me and that was just the first verse. As I started preparing, looking at ideas on the internet and watching different videos of the song it struck me (that's the spirit) that the point of this song was not that they learn the definition of all the words but that they feel the spirit, recognize it and place that feeling with Joseph Smith so that in the future and now as they develop their testimonies they can gain that important one that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

So with this in mind, off I went. I taught both verses to both junior and senior though senior is going to sing the 3rd verse in the program and I spent one short week with junior on it. It has been amazing. It helps that the tune is super catchy- thank you Scotland the Brave. But seriously, my kids have been singing this a ton, and I've had lots of parents telling me that their kids sing it all the time too- especially those junior primary kids. Do they get all the words right?no. Do they know the definition of all the words despite my trying to teach them? no. But those things don't matter.

And- teaching this song has reaffirmed to me that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. He restored the gospel- the organization of the priesthood, the Book of Mormon, built the first temples, and sacrificed his life for it all. I can't wait to hear this song in the program!

Here is my favorite video of it from youtube. Unfortunately it doesn't have the third verse but I think it's pretty powerful. Turn up the speakers :)

And that my friends is what my 3 and 5 year old walk around singing all the time!