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I teach music. I love music and feel like everyone in the world should love music as much as I do. Little did I know that it is impossible to make kids love music as much as I do. Some days, it feels impossible to get them even to like music.
One day, feeling a little discouraged after a tough music class, I was leaving school when Sam, a first grader, stopped me in my tracks. “Hi, Mrs. Fedke!” He had a grin on his face the size of Texas. I said hello back and gave him a high five.
Then he said, “Do you want to know something?” He was so excited he could hardly keep it in. “When I go home every day, I write hymns!”
I felt like someone needed to pinch me and bring me back to reality. He continued, “Yes, I love to write music. Maybe we could write something together sometime. I’m not really good at writing the music, but I am good at writing the words.”
My grin was now the size of Texas. I said to him, “Well, that’s just perfect, because I’m not so good at writing words, but I love to write music!” I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation with a first grader. He wanted to collaborate!
The following week Sam brought me three pages of music that he wrote. On those pages he had notes, words, treble clefs, bass clefs, repeat signs—the whole works. He then told me I had only a few days to work on it, so I knew he meant business! I could not wait to go home and pull out some of his words and try to set them to music. I knew that this young boy loved his Lord and was so enthusiastic about writing music. It only inspired me to write—and quickly.
A few days later, I printed out the music and put his name as the text writer on the freshly printed page. Together, we wrote a confession and a song of praise—a short liturgy, you might say. That day, he found me after school and wanted to know if I had completed the song. His teacher came looking for him, and his parents also meandered into the room. I explained how I took Sam’s words and set them to music. They listened to the song that God helped us write together. We were all crying tears of joy by the end of it. God was praised!
God always seems to know when we need a boost. I never thought I would be given an opportunity to collaborate with a first grader, but God gave that gift to me.
I pray that God always gives Sam the ability to write his music. I pray that God will always help me to see opportunities to serve him—and then take them. We all need to look for opportunities to serve and work together to praise our Creator.
When Sam left that day, he said that he was going to start working on writing a whole hymnal. You never know what God has planned.
Listen to a recording of this collaboration.
Author: Tracy Fedke
Volume 111, Number 09
Issue: September 2024
