The Church Mouse: Sing Praises

The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. – Exodus 15:2

A few weeks ago at a Sunday evening service at Church, I had like an out of body experience. Probably no one else in the building noticed. Here is the scoop so to speak.

An older lady of the church got up to sing. I love to hear her sing she has such a clear quality to her voice and she is always on key without a note of music ever being played. Anyway, she starts to sing “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.”

And WHAM!!
I was transported back some 66 plus years to a warm sunny, spring morning. I was sitting in a yellow sun-suit and bright green tennis shoes. (Isn’t it funny how you can remember something from this long ago with such clarity & detail? I can hardly remember what happened yesterday.)
I remember that I am sitting on this green wooden kitchen chair and I am shelling peas. I can hear my mother humming and singing a tune in the back of my mind.

I have recalled this scene many times over the years and never knew what the song was until the moment this lady at this Sunday evening church service began to sing.

Suddenly I could hear my mother singing the words to that song. When I got home from church that night I called my mom and asked her if she remembered that scene. She laughed and said she did remember us sitting on the back porch shelling peas and that she was likely singing to keep me entertained, but she said she could not remember what she was singing.

When my children were babies I would always be singing to them. My children get there love of music from me and my mom even though they hate to admit it.
When my daughter was just a little girl she would drag a little cassette player around, with it playing at full volume a Bill Gaither Trio tape of children’s gospel songs. She called this her “Jesus Tape”. She drove her older brothers crazy by playing this thing all the time. They were constantly hiding it from her or stealing the batteries out of the it so it would not play.

When she could not find the player or get it to play, she would come to me and say “Sing me Jesus.” We would sing the same songs over and over again.

Most of the songs that I sang to my children were hymns that I had learned in church. These songs are soothing to the soul and body. I’ve found that when you have a small child who is crying or even an adult who is upset, singing a hymn is an easy way to calm them down.

I love music of all kinds. But my favorite is southern gospel. I guess I like this music because the songs tell such wonderful stories of Jesus and the love he has for each of us.

So the next time you are having a restless night. Or you have a sleepless child try singing a hymn and see if it doesn’t calm you down.

Prayer—Father, God thank you for your love and the many blessings you give us each day. Help us Father to sing praises to you for your goodness. Calm us with your songs of love and care. Amen.

the Church Mouse
Work hard; Pray harder!