Chapped Knees

I have a feeling that I am going to get chapped knees this year. Why? Well because I have a feeling that I am going to be spending a great deal of time kneeling on them in prayer! I just got asked to serve in my church as a 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency in our ward. Yikes! I am very nervous! I have never been called into a presidency before! I have been a leader several times, but never in a presidency! I was both shocked and humbled by the calling when it was given to me.
As soon as I was called I thought about what would be the important things that I would want to teach the children. Here is what I have come up with:
I want to teach the children who they are
- I mean how important is it in this day and age to really know who you are and where you came from? When I was a teenager I know that knowing who I was kept me out of a lot of trouble. It also helped me deal with all of the pressures of teenagedom that I went through and I know that it has shaped me into the person that I am today.
I want to teach the children that they are loved
- Who doesn't want to feel loved? Isn't that something that we all need in our lives? I have always felt that children who feel that they are loved are happy children and happy children grow up to become happy, successful adults. I honestly think that this is something that is greatly underestimated in our society, and if I can just succeed in making one child feel as though there is someone out there who really and truly cares about them and what they are going through then I will have succeeded.
I want to teach the children to love the gospel
- I have always had a testimony of the gospel. I can honestly say that I have never had a huge bright light AHA moment, I have just always known that the gospel is true. This knowledge has lifted me from the depths of despair and it has strenghtened my shoulders when I have felt that my burden is too heavy to bear and it has kept me free from the bondages that come with addiction.
As I look around at the children that I see everywhere I always wonder to myself what they will be like when they are older. I wonder what I can do to help them to grow up to be happy and to be able to look back on their lives and to be proud of themselves. If I could help every child in the world, I would! But, alas, I do not have that opportunity. All I can do is help the children that I get the priviledge of knowing and if I can help them in some small way then I will be happy.
So, you see, I cannot bear this responsibility alone. I need help. And if I want to be able to help the children to learn to love the Lord then I will need His help so that I can know the best way possible. The Primary President that I am working under is someone who I have loved for a long time. She is an amazing and very talented person (who happens to be an elementary school teacher) and I know that she is going to do great things for these children. I hope that I will be able to help her with the things that she needs help with and that she knows that I would do anything for her. I am excited to work with her and I am excited to be able to spend tons of time with my own kiddies on Sundays as our whole family will now be in Primary together!
Tomorrow I will go out and buy myself some nice, thick lotion to rub on my knees, because I know that they will get chapped with all of the time that I will be spending on my knees in prayer. But if chapped knees are the sacrifice I will have to make. . . so be it!