Primary Song Teaches Simple Life Lessons

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    By Amy Kendall

    Students and faculty alike joined in a resounding chorus of all four verses of “Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam” during Tuesday”s devotional before a BYU professor taught lessons from the primary song.

    The performance was complete with several students bouncing in their seats.

    Tina Dyches, a coordinator of the Special Education Programs at BYU, focused her remarks on four specific lessons that can be found in this simple primary hymn.

    At the beginning of her address, Dyches invited the audience to sing the hymn in its entirety and afterward highlighted a specific point from each verse.

    First, was the admonition to please the Lord “at home, at school, at play.”

    “I think Heavenly Father must feel such intense sorrow when we, as His children, act as if we no longer need Him to lead us and guide us,” said Dyches, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education.

    Dyches quoted the Savior”s counsel found in John 12:35-36.

    “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.”

    Dyches suggested that a close relationship with the Spirit will allow individuals to walk away from those paths of darkness and into God”s light.

    “When we do so we will feel His love filling our lives with the warmth and peace that can come only from the Son,” she said.

    Next, Dyches used the second verse to teach about love and kindness.

    “We observe so much hatred, bitterness, selfishness, and greed in this world,” Dyches said. “It doesn”t require watching the evening news to know of this human problem; unfortunately, it is happening in our homes and neighborhoods.”

    She discussed the need for people to examine their lives and remove any behavior “which demeans, belittles, or harms self or others.”

    Specifically, she focused on the simple and often over-looked habit of name-calling.

    “It is unthinkable that in this new global millennium we still allow demeaning language and humiliation of those from certain groups to which we don”t belong,” Dyches said.

    Dyches encouraged instead, positive thoughts and language, which she said, would lead to more Christ-like treatment toward all.

    Her third point was that prayer is necessary to keep hearts from sin.

    A story about a teenager who struggled with drug addiction illustrated her point. In the end, the young man found the gospel and prayed for the goodness of the Lord. The Lord helped the young man “to turn his heart from sin so that he could be ever reflecting His goodness and always shine for Him.”

    Finally, Dyches emphasized that all must “serve the Lord moment by moment.”

    Dyches said that every person can serve the Lord in many small and wonderful ways.

    By following these four important principles, Dyches told listeners they will be able to follow the counsel of Paul, found in Ephesians 5:8.

    “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”

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