The Bible

We take Catherine to church twice a week, almost every week. On Sundays she attends an hour of Sunday School and an hour of "Noise," which is a worship service for kindergarten through second graders. On Wednesday evenings she attends an hour of choir and an hour of Mission Friends, where they supposedly teach her about missionaries throughout the world.

I never know if she is learning anything or not. Catherine rarely tells me what she does while at church. She does do some semblance of a craft almost every time.

However, recently I have come to believe that Catherine is really learning stuff at church. I assume all small children are like this, but when Catherine gets a song in her head, she sings it out loud for two or three hours.

Last week she sang the following: "I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me." (Or something like that)

Yesterday she sang "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry every thing to God in prayer." She wanted to sing more of the song, but neither Robby nor I could remember the rest of it. Still, it was precious to hear her sing an old hymn!

I think it is also interesting that Catherine seems to think that the Bible is not a book. A few weeks ago she asked me what the sign for Bible is and I showed her the sign for book (which she already knew). She said "No, that is the sign for book. I want the sign for Bible." I tried to explain that the Bible is a book, a special book. She still seemed unsatisfied, so I promised to look up the sign for Bible for her. (I have to confess that I have become distracted and have forgotten to do that so far.)

Last night when we put her to bed Catherine asked for a book to read. I walked over to the book case and, without looking, just grabbed a book and handed it to her. She gave it back to me and said "That is not a book Mommy, that's the Bible!"

It is neat to me that at such a tender young age Catherine already seems to hold the Bible in esteem. I am also humbled because we have really not spent a lot of time teaching her Bible stories and spiritual concepts. I need to get moving on that!