Friday, October 07, 2011

Pro Rege and the World's Oldest Profession


Last night I was putting my nine year old to bed. Soon he will find he feels too old to snuggle, but for the time I have left, I enjoy the ritual of reading aloud, exchanging back-scratches, talking about anything and everything, and sometimes helping him master a memory verse.

What's been especially sweet about his attendance at this new Christian school is that he has begun to sing again. And not just commercials. From the time he was about five until last month, he didn't think it was cool to sing. That broke my heart. He wouldn't sing in church. He wouldn't sing when I tried to teach him some hymns at home, and only once in a while he'd sing in the shower. At his old school he felt uncomfortable singing on stage in the musical.

Imagine my joy at the resurrection of his singing! All the kids, even the boys , at school not only have to sing, but enjoy it. I love it!

So far he has learned a US history song that recounts major players and events from the 15th century to the French-Indian War. He was signing it for me as I lay there in the stillness. His voice is precious and nearly pitch-perfect. Then he asked if I'd help him with his Bible verse which he'll be tested on today. His dad had written it on a card and helped him remember the first letter of each of the four lines: BBTW. I told him there were 25 words and the lines have 6,6,7,6 words each, respectively. Then I got to explain to him what the verse means, because, let's face it, words like "reconciled" and "blemish" need some 'splaining to a fourth grader.

I suggested we put the verse to the tune of "Amazing Grace," and it worked! (We messed around with the meter, of course, but doing so only bolstered the memory.)

But now He has reconciled you
By Christ's physical body through death
To present you holy in his sight
Without blemish and free from accusation.
Colossians 1:22

Joel then asked if we could sing the real song. So we did, in the dark, cozied up under blankets; we sang "Amazing Grace."

Pro rege. (For the king.)

I asked Joel if he knew what "Pro Rege" means. He said no.
I explained, "Pro means for. Rege means King, like regal. Like pro-life is for life."
He asked, "Professional is for fessional?"
I snickered. And then he said, "How about pro-stitution?"

I snorted and gathered my wits.

"Do you know what that means?" I asked.
"No. What?"
"Never mind. I'll tell you when you're older. Good night, son. I love you."

Oh, boy. How did we get from "Amazing Grace" to pro-stitution in a matter of seconds?

7 comments:

Janice C Johnson said...

Seriously, you never know WHAT will come out of those precious little mouths. Yay for bedtime snuggles!

Diane said...

lol. For just one day, I'd like to be back in the mind of a five year old. Enjoy the snuggles and sweet times!

Stacy N said...

I love the minds of 9-year-olds. Partly because you can still say...I'll explain it when you're older...and they're okay with that!

Briana Almengor said...

I don't think my kids know that word yet, but if they did, it would sound like a conversation we'd have at our house.

Katharine said...

LOL- My son came home from sunday school one day with a story from an object lesson. Apparently, they used bocce balls, and the white one is called the "pallino" He walked in and announced that they had learned about porno balls in Sunday School. I spit my coffee half way across the room!

Anonymous said...

oh my!

Laurie said...

Praise the Lord that God's Amazing Grace covers "pro-stitution"!
Our girls and I were involved w/ a Scripture memory system (I think it was local) that incorporated memory verses into familiar tunes: Jesus loves Me, Happy Birthday, Twinkle, Twinkle etc. , and it made the verses so much easier to remember! It's the way I can still remember Galations 5: 22 & 23 which was
sung to Jesus Loves Me (including the reference);
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control;” Galations 5: 22 and 23!