All of our boys are involved in a small home school choir right now. For the past several years our home school group has asked Michelle, a recent college graduate with a music major, to help us teach music to our kids.
Michelle has done a fabulous job teaching our kids about singing, performing, reading notes…it’s wonderful! She’s worked with our kids on both chorus and drama/musical performances and it’s been very impressive!
This year Malachi was old enough to give it a try. He’s only 4 1/2, so it’s a bit of a stretch for him to stay focused for an entire practice, but he LOVES it.
From the night of the very first practice, Malachi started walking around saying, “Hahyay”…shakes his head…tries again…”Hahlyay”…shakes his head.
Over and over again for days.
He’d sometimes try to work it into the song, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Glory Hahyay…” (shakes his head…tries again…)
Eventually he started adding more to the word, “Hah-Yay-Yoo-Lah.” (shakes his head) Ah, but he was closer.
Then finally. FINALLY.
One day he was sitting at the kitchen table, “Hahyay…HahLayYooLah…HahYayYooLah…Hah…Lay…Loo…Yah….” He stopped dead still for a moment. Realization dawned in his face then he screamed, “I DID IT!!!!!! Hah-Lay-Loo-Yah!!! Mama!! I said it! Hah-Lay-Loo-Yah!!!”
Then he started running circles around the house shouting, “Hallelujah!! Hallelujah!!!” Of course the rest of us were just praising God right along with him that he FINALLY had figured out how to say it! “Hallelujah!”
That night, Michelle stopped by to drop off music CDs for the boys to listen to and practice with. When Malachi saw who was standing at the door, he dropped whatever he was doing…RAN to the door…SHOVED his big brothers out of the way and SHOUTED, “Hallelujah!!!!!”
Michelle, bless her heart, opened up her arms with her face lit up and shouted back, “Well, Hallelujah!!!!”
Malachi was fifty feet up in the air. Ah was he beaming!
And so it continues. Randomly throughout the day during all forms of activity, shouts of “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” are heard.
The rest of us are joining it. It’s hard not to.
Kinda makes you wonder what all of us could accomplish if we were so determined, and practiced and tried and worked as hard as he did.
Can I get an amen?
(Hallelujah!)
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This post is linked to Finer Things Fridays.
SO precious! I LOVE IT!
My two year old has been singing “Give Me Oil Me Oil In My Lamp” a lot lately and he loves exclaiming the Hallelujah part – only for him, it comes out “Hawuhwooyuh”! Makes me grin everytime… :)
Yeah Malachi!! Cute story!!
Hallelujah!
I LOVE it!!! Amen! Hallelujah!!! :)
On that same note… my 3yo said the Lord’s Prayer for the first time along with us tonight! Usually he’s nursing while we pray, but he’s been listening, listening, listening. And tonight he insisted that we slow down so he could say it, too! He knew at least half of it without any help. :)
Oh, wow, I got a huge grin on my face reading this story. How sweet! We have a 4.5 year old too. It is so rewarding when they can overcome a difficult word. What a great word to master!
That is just too precious!
Out of the mouths of babes, as they say. Don’t you know that God wants us all to come to him, praising him with excited “Hallelujahs” — like it is the very first time! God bless Malachi:)
I secretly like it when they have those adorable little hang ups on words. Because I through mommyhood I have learned that soon enough they learn how to say them correctly and then you miss the “wrong” way they used to say stuff….thanks for the smile AMEN!!
Amen, Amen, and Amen :)
This is going to make me smile all day. Thank you for sharing!
My grin is ear to ear right now! Hallelujah! Hal-lay-loo-YAH!!!
Love it!
My favorite word story: A little man I visited for parents as teachers was anxiously awaiting singing his alphabet for me. When he did, I loved the middle” J-K-Elmo-P !!
It would make sense to throw a Sesame Street character in the middle, dontcha think?
Hallelujah, Malachi!!! What a big boy!!! What a cute story!!! :)
Ahh…how precious! This post brought tears to my eyes – I’ve had a very emotional week with some friends who are in very difficult circumstances to say the least. They are broken and hurting and these Christians are no longer leaning on God…and that breaks my heart. My prayer is that God will use me to bridge the gap for them, in prayer and love, until they fall into His arms again, on their own. When this entire situation is resolved, I’ll be running around yelling “Hallelujah!” at the top of my lungs, too. Thank you, sweet Malachi for such an inspiration…and for Mom for sharing it with us. :) Blessings to you all!
That is so adorable… definitely a story of perseverance!
Love them and encourage them. Don’t tell them how they HAVE to be in church, and don’t pester them. And after awhile, stopped calling, emailing, etc
I walked away from teh Lord, a while back, and a few of my friends did the above, and it drove me farther away. A LOVING friend, who loves the Lord etc, just loved me, and encouraged me, and most importantly prayed for me. My other “friends” I barely see, but the one who stood by me, and loved me and prayed for, I see almost everyday.
Just be gentle! And just pray that God will use you, and that their hearts will be softened once again.
This was in reply to Misty… sigh!
Thanks, Danielle. I certainly am trying to be thoughtful and not push…and I’m definitely not telling them they have to be in church. I pray that God will guide me in my steps and words and that even in a small way He can use me.
Amen! And just call them, even emails are great. Main key, just don’t shove it down their throats… I think what my so-called friends did just drove me further away. Be understanding.
I never stopped loving God… thru this trial, I was out of church almost 2 years. I never felt so alone in my life. But knowing I had a friend who loved me in spite of what I was doing and who prayed for me helped me.
That is a crack up! Love it when they learn something new. :)