Happy Holy Week! (Is that an appropriate greeting to share?)
This story could alternately be titled "Mother knows best." You'll soon see why.
It started a week ago Sunday. AJ came home from Sunday School saying he needed to sing a song in church and he didn't want to. I confirmed with a friend who's a Sunday School teacher that - for Palm Sunday - they wanted the kids to process into the sanctuary waving palm branches.
I let it go at the time, thinking AJ was just being cranky for some reason. But come Sunday, he still insisted he didn't want to do it. Why? (Get ready for a laugh.) Because he's too shy, he told me.
I didn't really believe him and so pushed hard for him to join his friends in line. He continued to say no. I finally played the guilt trip card and told him I really wanted him to do it - would he please do it for me?
That worked enough to get him to walk with me to the back of the church where the other kids were gathered. Once he had a palm branch in hand, he seemed to be doing okay, so I left him there... though not before Sydney managed to snag a palm branch for herself. How lucky!
When it came time for the kids to march in, I readied my phone to take a picture. Alas, there was no good photo opportunity to be had. AJ and several other boys somehow managed to get two palm branches, so he walked down the aisle with one on either side of his face. It kind of reminded me of my reporter days, trying to get video of suspects leaving court while they would try to cover their face with file folders and anything else they might have in their possession.
Finally the kids made it to the front where they lined up and sang three more songs. AJ's voice could be clearly heard throughout, so his "shyness" wasn't due to not knowing the words.
Next, the pastor called any other kids in the sanctuary to come forward for the children's sermon. That was all the encouragement Sydney needed. Clutching her palm branch firmly in her hand, she raised it above her head and galloped down the aisle. There's nothing like an enthusiastic little girl with bouncy pigtails to make an entire congregation chuckle. We could hear the laughs and "awwwws" like a wave, starting from the back of the church as she made her way forward.
The children's sermon passed uneventfully. AJ said something that made us all laugh, but I guess I've gotten so immune to his comments that I don't even remember what it was.
Later that day, back at home, I caught AJ singing some of the songs and making some of the hand gestures. I couldn't resist:
"So are you glad you sang with your friends in church today?"
"Yeah!"
How did I know that would happen?
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