Teach the Children

Teach the Children
Sunday celebrations
Church is early, midday and late
All day hallelujahs
Pressed hair sweated out
Wanna take a nap
But you know you’ll get a whippin’
Singing in the choir because you have to
Better open your mouth like you want to be there
Options and choices do not exist
Somewhere down the line
You know for sure
That there was a reason for all of this
Start to understand “train up a child in the way that he should go”
Don’t even want your parents to know
That soon as you go off to college
You DO depart from it
Years pass and you come to know
That God really is the creator and Master of ALL
You rededicate your life and remind yourself
That despite your faults and sins
God has never left you,
It was you who left him…
But He welcomes you back with open arms
And this time
You are the one who is singing Hallelujah
And you learn what mother and grandmother meant
When they spoke of the gift of the Holy Spirit
And you are no longer embarrassed
By the reaction the Spirit causes
You are bare before the Lord
And in this state you thank Him
(And your parents)
For introducing you to God
At an early age
You think things over and realize
That things could have gone a lot easier
If you’d just followed the lessons you’d learned
But the school of hard knocks teaches you best
Finally God’s sense of humor comes into play when
You get married and have children of your own

(C) 2008 by Chenise Lytrelle
An Excerpt from Kaleidocope: A Collection of Poetry