While trying to get the children back on their school bedtime schedule, I have them tucked in at 8:00 PM. They are hardly tired. I tell them I'll sit in the armchair in the corner of the room while they fall asleep.
I feel like the Mother Bunny in that old favorite, Goodnight Moon (only I don't have knitting needles, and I'm not one to sit still).
I have a gazillion things to do. Besides making lesson plans, I could tidy the kitchen, fold another load of laundry, mop the kitchen floor--the usual.
Instead, I stay put in that soft corner-of-the-room armchair.
And then the most unusual thing happens. I think it would be a good idea to sing. It almost--don't think I'm crazy--feels like God wants me to sing. I have never been able to sing. Couple nerves with probable tone-deafness, and you have a recipe for musical disaster.
But I start singing every old hymn I know. I'm singing over my daughters and imagining wonderful things for their lives. It feels like I'm rejoicing and that I'm taking enormous delight in them with those warbling notes.
The girls quiet down and fall fast asleep in 15 minutes. I stay put in that chair and sing for a half hour more. I feel closer to my family and somehow closer to a picture of how God feels about me.
Something calls out to my soul as I sing. I remember this verse from Zephaniah 3:17.
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
I think of God sitting in the armchair in my own bedroom. I fall asleep--delighted in, rejoiced over.
Beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteI usually sing a hymn to my girl at bedtime too...special moments on many levels!
Oh, Heather, some day you will miss doing that. You will wonder how they grew up so fast. They will remember Mommy singing to them. You are singing blessings into their hearts. Do it as long as they let you. You will never regret it. Make peace with the dirty kitchen floor, like I made peace with the laundry in my blog post "Now if I could make peace with dusting..."
ReplyDeleteblessings, k
Lovely! "He will rejoice over you..." Thanks for sharing those moments of joy and connection, that warmed my heart!
ReplyDeleteI adore this entry! With Fiona I was so tired the first few weeks, the night feedings felt like agony. And then they were over so fast. So fast. With Annabel I have really been savoring them -- rejoicing over them! -- since I know how special and fragile and transient they are. Surely this is how God sees each part of our tiny short lives...
ReplyDeleteHeather, I've heard you sing before and you are a great singer! You don't do yourself justice.
ReplyDelete