Belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the children attend what is called Primary. In essence, this is junior Sunday school class where teachers teach little ones gospel related songs like “I am a Child of God” and “I lived in Heaven” and lessons about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The songs sung over the whole year of class remind everyone of what we as adults should remember.
The lessons of the gospel are presented each week through games, puzzles, and scripture stories from scripture text of the Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants (modern revelation given to latter-day prophets). Then lessons are taught in smaller groups which review gospel principals. These children learn from the early age of three, where they come from, who they are and where they can go after their earth life has ended.
The youngest of this group are appropriately named the “Sunbeams” which has carried on a tradition for well over fifty years. These three year olds sit together for their class and with amazing simplicity learn gospel truths which carry with them for the rest of their lives.
All I really need to know can be learned as a Sunbeam:
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Where am I going?
There are answers to these questions which mankind has been asking for years and the Sunbeam class can answer them.
Who am I?
From the beloved children’s song “I am a Child of God” from the LDS Children’s Songbook it tells us that we are children of God who were sent here on earth to parents kind and dear. Those lines are sung many times throughout the year in song. Should we believe these words? Yes! The prophet Jeremiah did when he wrote (Jeremiah 1:5) “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; before thou camest fourth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations…”
If we dig down deep, read inspiring literature and ponder who we really are, we can know. Search, ponder and pray (another LDS children’s song) can come in handy and afterward, we really can feel our divine nature.
Where did I come from?
Another favorite LDS Church children’s song is called “I Lived in Heaven.” The words ring true as they are sung: “I lived in Heaven a long time ago it is true. Lived there and loved there with people I know so did you. Then Heavenly Father presented a beautiful plan, all about earth and eternal salvation for man.” We are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us and we should love Him. Those children growing up hearing those kind words know in their hearts that they are loved and that is what I have learned as well. We all have the divine nature of God in us. We came from a kind Heavenly Father which gives me comfort. We did live in Heaven before we came here. Another question answered.
Where am I going?
“My life is a gift, my life has a plan, my life has a purpose, in heaven it began.” These words are from the opening lines of “I Will Follow God’s Plan “from the LDS Children’s Songbook. What a positive message we can learn if we listen. From the plan of salvation taught to our young children it says we came from Heaven and we are going back to Heaven after we are done with our mission here on earth.
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A life of faith is what these children learn at such a young age and continue to learn as they reach adulthood. It is that simple. Adults complicate these ideals with doubt, fear and disbelief. A child’s faith is strong and we need to follow their lead when they know in their hearts that they are children of God.
Our challenge as adults is to keep that faith through all our own challenges of life. Have hope when all seems hopeless. All I need to know in life I learned as a Sunbeam.
Valerie Steimle has been writing as a family advocate for over 25 years. As a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she promotes Christian living in her writings and is the mother of nine children and grandmother to twelve. Mrs. Steimle authored six books and is a contributing writer to several online websites. To her, time is the most precious commodity we have and knows we should spend it wisely.
To read more of Valerie's work, visit her at her website, The Blessings of Family Life.
