Children of the Heavenly Father

When we were planning this family reunion, Grandma told me that she wanted the great grandkids to learn the words to Children of the Heavenly Father.

So every morning the family gathered for morning devotions. Each day we memorized one of the four verses of this swedish hymn learning a bit about what the lyrics meant, tied it into a Bible story that some mornings the grandkids acted out and then played a memory game to help the family learn the words. In this memory game, we sang the song through a few times, and then I had volunteers come forward to take down one or two of the words from the clothesline and then we'd see if we could sing it through without having all of the words in front of us. We did this until there were no words left.

My dad pulled me aside that night and commented, "maybe we wouldn't have to sing that song quite so many times." Ha! Hysterical.

It was a sweet way to begin our days together. We sang other favorite hymns, and throughout the course of the four days heard the entire gospel. In fact, Christmas morning I focused on the fall story and why Jesus had to come in the first place. That night we celebrated Jesus' birth by acting out the nativity. And then the next day was Easter so we learned why Jesus had to die and were able to connect the sin that had been brought into the world during The Fall and how Jesus' love for us was poured out on the cross, dying for our sins so that we can celebrate new life with our Heavenly Father. Thursday was Thanksgiving and we talked about how the only thing left for us to do is to praise our God and thank him for the life and joy and hope we have because of his great love for us. Seriously, it was a lot of ground to cover in four days!

Here are the words to Children of the Heavenly Father
Children of the Heavenly Father
Safely in his bosom gather
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e'er was given

God his own doth tend and nourish
In his holy courts they flourish
From all evil things he spares them
In his mighty arms he bears them

Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord his children sever
Unto them his grace he showeth
And their sorrows all he knoweth

Though he giveth or he taketh
God his children ne'er forsaketh
His the loving purpose solely
To preserve them pure and holy