by Bruce T. Forbes, February 2009What I Learned Teaching the Children to Sing
"How Firm a Foundation"
As a Primary chorister I've learned that some of the greatest teaching moments in the church is when the Primary children teach their chorister, hence I was excited when I received the 2009 Primary Presentation outline and discovered the February hymn would be one of my favorite: "How Firm a Foundation".
Although the outline has the chorister only teaching verses one and three, the Spirit insisted I teach verse seven as well, so my preparation also included that verse.
WEEK ONE: Verse One
My artwork for teaching this hymn was a simple: a picture of the Tokyo temple with a picture of a family - both floating on a pool of water. We talked about the Tokyo temple and how it was built in one of the most active earthquake areas on earth. I asked if it would be smart to built such a large, beautiful building in a pool of water for a foundation, and that usual Primary chorus of "NO!" rang across the Primary room.
I added a picture of sand into the pool on which the temple and the family were floating and asked: "How about a foundation of sand in the water?" The 'No Chorus' rang out again, and I asked 'why not?', and a little four-year-old told me - "Because when the rain comes falling down it will wash the house away." It was as if she knew what song we were about to sing!
"The wise man built his house upon a rock ...
The foolish man built his house upon the sand..."
At the end of this classic little song, I put up a big, strong stone foundation over the pool and the sand and asked: "What is our Firm Foundation?"
"Not 'what', said a six-year-old; "You mean 'who'."
"Jesus," added the girl next to him.
"And what is this foundation for?" I asked; "How do we stick to it?" I had them with this one, so I recited the first part of the verse:
"How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your ..."
I paused to verbally put quote marks around -
"...Faith in His Excellent Word..."
"Our 'Faith in His Excellent Word' is the glue that holds us to His foundation," I explained, and then I asked where we could find His word. All the usual and always correct 'Primary answers' were blurted out as I reminded them to first raise their hands: Prayer, scriptures, the prophets, and the FRIEND Magazine were immediately identified as sources through which we could build our Faith and glue ourselves firmly to the Savior's 'Firm Foundation.'
"Has the Lord told us much that is new recently?" I asked. They all agreed that He has pretty well repeated Himself for some time, which caused me to recite -
"What more can He say then to you He has said -
Who unto the Savior for refuge has fled?"
"What is a refuge?" I asked.
"It's where you go to be safe," answered an older girl; "And for that there's only Jesus."
"Who stands on the foundation beside us?" I asked. A chorus of voices shouted out Mom, Dad, family, bishop, and, of course, Jesus.
It was time for an object lesson, even though the point would have been made better the following week as we learned Verse Three - I had a four-year-old come and stand on the step stool we use for the younger children to reach the top of the podium when giving talks, and then I invited his seven-year-old brother to come and try to push his brother off. The offer was received with great relish, but as soon as the elder brother reached the younger brother I stepped up on the step with the little one. As the older brother hesitated, I invited him to gather up a few friends to try to push his little brother off. As five 'big boys' stepped up in front of us, I pulled a bag black baseball bat from behind me, and wisely all the boys who were going to try to push us off the Firm Foundation melted back to their seats.
"That's how much Jesus loves you," I told the four-year-old as well as the rest of the room.
The real lesson was a week later, however.
The following Sunday a gust of wind blew the picture of the family off my poster as I pulled it out of my car, and there I was, chasing it through the parking lot, trying my best to catch it, poster still in one hand and my Primary bag in the other. At my age and size, I'm sure it was a sight to behold as the picture and I zigged and zagged. When I finally did catch it, it was right in front of three of my Primary children.
"Is that how much Jesus loves my family?" a little boy asked, wide-eyed.
It was a true 'out of the mouth of babes' moment! "Yes," I told him confidently as I recalled the parable of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-and-nine safely in the chapel and chases through the parking lot to gather in the one caught in the winds of Life and not able to quite reach the chapel door on their own. "That's how much He loves you and your family!" With that, I firmly placed the family picture back on the firm foundation and applied a fresh layer of tape to hold them firmly in place.
There are moments when a testimony is either born or reborn, and this was one of those moments! Jesus loves me and my family enough to chase us through the parking lot when the winds of the world are blowing us hither and thither and we don't think we have the strength to stand and make it to the chapel door. He commands what the Old Testament calls His Watchmen and His Shepherds to brave the storm and help with the roundup; facing extremely dire consequences should they sit comfortably in the chapel while exclaiming: "If he wanted to be fellowshipped he'd have come to church and told us - since he hasn't, there's nothing I can do."
I determined right there and then that I would henceforth always have a fresh pack of spiritual tape or glue with me, so when He finally pins me down in some upcoming storm of Life I will, once again, be able to hold fast to Him and His foundation.
WEEK TWO: Verse Three
In our ten-year-old class there is one helpless boy caught in the middle of a gaggle of giggly girls, and on Week Two of teaching this hymn he came to Primary on crutches. Any parent would have been proud of how kind the girls treated him! They gave him the aisle seat for his leg and even helped him with his crutches! It was one of those moments when you wonder where the real group of girls in that class are hiding but you don't say anything because you don't want to ruin the moment.
I invited the boy on crutches to come up and stand on the step from the pulpit, and asked if he felt safe. He did feel safe until he realized I was about to pull something on him, which was to invite all the girls in his class to come stand around him. The girls giggled their way up and surrounded him, hands up and ready to push him off the Firm Foundation. They were simply too eager.
"Girls," I asked, "Why is he suddenly afraid?"
"Because he knows us," one of the girls all too truthfully replied.
I turned to the boy. "What was the first thing the angel choir said to the shepherds in Bethlehem?"
"'Fear Not'," he said with a hint of panic in his voice.
"You would think the Messiah's birth was the more important thing for them to announce," I explained, "But the first thing they did was to tell them that there was nothing to fear." At that, the girls were sent back to their seats, having not been allowed to push him off the stool. One remained, however, to kindly help the boy manage his crutches as he got down off the stool. I was so very proud of her!
After teaching the children that to 'dismay' is to be so scared and worried that you don't think anything good will ever happen, I told them to listen to what Heavenly Father says:
"Fear not, I am with thee; oh be not dismayed,
For I am thy god and will still give thee aide.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld my my righteous, omnipotent hand."
'Omnipotent' was a word I thought I had to define for the children. 'Omni-' is a prefix that means 'all-encompassing', and 'potent' means 'full of power' (including the power of creation); 'strength'. "Jesus' hand is the strongest, most powerful hand anywhere, ever," I explained to the children.
Then came the teaching moment for the chorister. "In the Old Testament the Lord's omnipotent arm is talked about when His people need someone to fight their battles," I explained. "But this hymn talks about his hand. Why?" I had prayed all week for an answer but it had not come, so I asked this question with faith that the Lord would speak through a child. I was not disappointed.
"It's fine for Him to have a strong arm," a Senior Primary girl explained, "But even He can't help us until he opens his hand to us." She paused. "This hymn is about how He holds us and loves us more than how He fights our enemies."
A choir of angels could not have made this any more of a revelation than as this young girl spoke such simple truth! The Spirit, building on this young girl's wisdom, whispered that the strength to fight our battles may be in his arms, but the power to wipe our tears and erase our fears is in His hands, and that is what we celebrate in this hymn.
When it comes to showing love and compassion; to wiping a tear or easing a burden; to being willing to lead us in love and hold us fast to His Father's will, there is no pair of hands stronger or more powerful - more omnipotent - than those of our Savior Jesus Christ.
That night in prayer I thanked Heavenly Father yet again for the privilege of serving in Primary!
WEEK THREE: Verse Seven:
To start week three, there were three words to teach the children: 'repose', 'desert', and 'forsake'.
Holding up my personal favorite picture of Jesus with children, I asked if the children in the picture looked calm or worried, stressed or at ease. Above all, did they look rested? "This is what the word 'repose' means - to be as calm and rested and happy - as 'at ease' - as the children in this picture," I explained. An historical note I added for the older children and the teachers is that the Hebrew word for 'repose' is 'shabbat', which we pronounce as 'Sabbath'. The Sabbath is a day in which our mind and heart should be at rest and 'at ease' (reposing) from the worries and cares of the world.
"And we can only do that on the 'Firm Foundation'," added a Senior Primary boy with all the authority of a newly-discovered truth.
Then we recited the first lines of Verse Seven:
"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to its foes..."
"What does it mean to be deserted and forsaken?" I asked, and the children responded with perfect definitions. "Will Heavenly Father or Jesus ever desert us? Will they ever, ever turn their backs on us?" The 'No Chorus' that rang out was so definite and sure that I didn't even remind them to raise their hands.
"We may turn our backs on them," I said, testifying so strongly that a bit of my testimony was leaking out of my eyes, "But they will never, never turn their backs on us. Even when we wander as far away from them as we can, they will still be there with their hands out to us to help us come back."
I put up the poster from Week One, but there was something added: an angry mob now stood on either side of the Firm Foundation, throwing things at the family still standing strong on the foundation. "What kinds of things can people throw at us to knock us off the foundation?" I asked, and again the answers were as if I'd passed out slips of paper with the answers to get the perfect responses; each of the answers covering a different sort of sin or transgression - to include 'being mean to family members'.
"Should we throw these things back at the mob trying to knock us off the foundation?" I asked.
"NO!" exclaimed a five-year-old. "Then you would be one of them! Then Jesus would have to kick you off the foundation!" She paused and added: "You should only throw Love back at them, Brother Forbes," she quite literally instructed me.
As a Watchman and Shepherd of Israel, I pray I can help this precious little child hold on to that thought as she grows up and Life throws stronger and stronger things at her.
We then recited the full verse:
"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to its foes.
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake
I'll never, no never forsake."
Or, as we sing it to the tune in our hymnal,
"...I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake."
"That's a lot of 'never'," one of the older girls commented.
"Heavenly Father and Jesus will never forsake you," I testified again; "They will never, never," and I held up a new finger for each of the seven times 'never' is used in that final verse, "never, never, never, never, never turn away from you."
It was born home to me again that if you want to truly learn the Gospel in its plainness and in its glorious simplicity, you really must be teaching the Gospel in Primary. I have loved hymns all my life, and I have especially loved this hymn all my life. This hymn has been God's light for my path through many of life's severest trials, but it has only been through teaching the hymn and its meaning to the children that is has truly shined with heavenly light on my heart.