Thursday, November 20, 2008

Heart songs

I was feeling a little harried yesterday evening as we piled into our van to head off to the craziness that is Wednesday night. I had put off a lot of my responsibilities for GAs (Girls in Action). 1) All the girls should have brought in stuff for Christmas Shoeboxes, but I'd only made a few late calls last week so we missed the deadline. 2) I should have called more parents about permission slips for an outing that we were going to that very night, but I'd put off most of those calls, too! No one should put me in charge of administration. I am too much of a last-minute person!

By the time we'd gathered the girls together, I was amazed to find out that by some miracle, each girl had a permission slip!

We managed to fit all of 10 GAs into my van and Amy, the other adult helper in the group, sat in the front with me. (Only two girls had to double-buckle . . . Shhhhhhhh!) They were all super excited to go in my van, which cracked me up. I told them that if they were going to go, they'd have to promise to pretend that the van was clean!

We practiced the songs we were going to sing and the order we were going to do them in, as we drove. Actually, two of the more "administrative" girls took over. I just drove! : ) Amy and I were not to sure how it would all pan out.

When we got there, Amy gave each girl flowers to give to the couple. They went right in, hugged them and gave them flowers and we all got settled around their living room. That's when the fun began.

The plan was to say our GA motto, sing our GA verse and then sing two Christmas carols. After that, we were just going to wing it. By the time we got through the first few notes, those girls were well on their way to singing their hearts out. The couple was so pleased to hear their voices, both having been in the church choir themselves. The girls would finish a song, then huddle around for the next one, and then sing another song. They sang all of the Christmas carols they knew, all of the choir songs they knew, all of the school choir songs they knew and even some songs that they didn't quite know! There were solos, duets, trios and whole group songs. There were songs that made you cry and songs that made you laugh. There were Thanksgiving songs and Christmas songs.

Next thing I knew, I looked down at my watch and it was 7:31. We were supposed to be back at the church by 7:30! So we got in a circle holding hands. I asked for two volunteers to pray for the couple and two readily volunteered and then we gave hugs and ran out the door. Amy found out that the couple has been married for 63 years! Amazing and lovely.

Amy and I were the last two out the door, and the girls were swarming around the van waiting to climb in. They saw us and came running to us, "Thank you! Thank you!" But we were the ones so thankful for them and for their hearts. They sang all the way back to the church. And that evening turned into a huge blessing, not only for the shut-in couple, but for me! And also, I think, for God.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think that what was done was such a testimony to the Lord's love all around. i am so glad everyone had fun.