Emphasis matters. We know this to be true in common rhetoric and speech. Emphasising the right syllables in a given word makes all the difference in being able to say it correctly. When we think about our children and the church traditions that we practise involving children we want to ensure that we have placed the emphasis in the right location.

There are certain seasons of life—weeks even—that have an immense heaviness to them.  Solomon wrote many thousands of years ago, “[there is] a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccl. 3:4).  This past week fit squarely into the season of weeping and mourning.  As I watched one of the most well-known and bold Christians of our time, Charlie Kirk, murdered, I also caught wind of another high school shooting in Colorado while also seeing a video of a woman brutally murdered on a train in Charlotte, NC.

For a solid six months - after Frozen 2 released - my two youngest daughters demanded the sound track to be played every night at bed time.  And since we often would lay in with them until they fell asleep, I quickly memorized every word to every song (not by choice).  Even to this day I can give you a rousing rendition of Into the Unknown…minus the octave levels of Idina Menzel. 

What we see in Scripture is that waiting is a keystone component in our relationship with God, which if we’re honest is probably one of the last things we want to hear.  And that’s because waiting is hard.  No one likes to wait.