joyful music in service

friends of jesus (foj) is a children's formation group which my husband and i serve in. before every meeting, we plan out an activity for the children through which they will hopefully learn a particular christian value, share their talents, and have fun with each other. i sometimes ask my children what activity they think would be enjoyable. since it is the month of october, we were planning a mama mary-dedicated foj activity for last sunday. but because there was still no power in most areas of the city post-typhoon milenyo, we were told the night before sunday that the sunday district gathering was cancelled.

come sunday morning, roque, our perpetual 4 year-old alarm clock, woke me up around 6:30. and with anticipation, shouts to my ear, "good morning! wake up!! do we have foj?" and so i had to tell him it was cancelled. "but why we won't foj?" it was a bit funny how foj, the noun, became also a verb to him. i knew he was disappointed. and i had to tell him that it was because there was no electricity. "awww! no tricity again?!" yup, he was clearly disappointed.

and so the day went on with us just bumming around the house. there was nothing to do until we decided to go to sta. elena to take the kids swimming, to breathe some fresh air and to have some nuclear family bonding. it was fun and the kids were tired as we headed back home after that. as i tucked roque in bed, i told him dad and i were going to mass. with his eyes half-opened, in between yawns, he asks, "is it an foj mass? i want to go with you." and though i didn't want to disappoint him again, i had to tell him it wasn't.

it blows my mind how he looked foward to foj the minute he woke up that sunday. and even after having already enjoyed a whole afternoon of swimming, as he was about to sleep, he still did not forget foj. i did not anticipate his anticipation. nor was i disappointed with his disppointment. hearing him get excited about foj, use it automatically as if it were a verb, and even instinctively relate it to the holy mass, is joyful music to my ears. it's service rewarded a thousand-fold.