The Feelings of Children
Over the years, I have written many times about our daughter’s drama ministry and my joyful role of helping her. 2020 was the first year since 1999 that her drama group did not have a performance. Now that COVID restrictions in general and at the theater specifically have lessened, I am excited that she is planning a play for 2021. Yesterday was a fun day of auditions. Children don’t have to try out to see if they can be in her plays, but they do need to audition for the type of role that is best for them.
I eagerly watched the uniqueness of the 40 or so children who auditioned yesterday. Some were very serious while others were giggly. Some were shy and quiet. Others were confident and easy to hear. It was an emotional experience to watch them because we wanted them all to feel good about their performance.
The first child’s feelings that touched me yesterday were those of our 3-year-old grandson. I’ll call him Mason.
We arrived early for the auditions and placed our various cameras and bags and things on the front row, as we do every year. I took the grandchildren to the basement where they played until time for the morning auditions to begin.
Our daughter, the grandchildren, and I had been the only ones in the auditorium when we arrived. However, by the time we went back upstairs, many mothers and children had arrived. At the top of the stairs, Mason looked into the auditorium. His face changed from happy to worried and tearful; he said to me, “Little, I need you.” I scooped him up and carried him to our seats on the front row. He stayed in my lap for a long time, while one child after another performed what they had prepared.
After a lunch break (again in the basement), we walked back to the top of the stairs. Seeing the afternoon audition participants in the auditorium brought another request from Mason: “Little, would you hold me?” I carried him as we walked to our seats, but then he sat happily in a chair of his own. When the children who wanted to sing a solo began their auditions, Mason wanted to sing one, too, and, to my amazement, he walked up on stage and sang a solo—twice.
God created us humans with a range of changing feelings. Children are good at laying them out in the open for everyone to see. That’s good . . .
. . . because they make it easier for us to obey God’s command to:
Rejoice with those who rejoice,
and weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,Â
who comforts us in all our affliction
so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4