I like listening to music throughout the day, and my children have become really responsive to many of the songs I have played for them, since they've heard the same ones many times since they were born. The other day my son, 3, (i'll just call him "S") ran over and declared "This song is the song that makes the monsters go away. When you play the music for me at night, and i listen to it and God makes all the monsters go away." It was a wonderful song by one of our favorite artists, Pierce Pettis "God Believes in You". I love how he is absorbing so much, how a simple thing like a playlist you quickly make on your ipod (and plug into his mickey speakers) when you just want him to *go to sleep already* can offer such protection to a child, even when he doesn't fully understand all of it.
That night, my son, S, slept fairly soundly during another storm. The lightning was flashing all around. After a brilliant flash I heard a blood-curdling scream. He was sitting up in his bed, asking in a terrified voice, "What is happening to my window?"
"It's lightning sweetie. It's from the rain, from the thunder. ..God makes the lightning go flash, remember? You are safe. We are here, we love you." I bring him in my room.
"Play me a song mommy, please make me a song." So i pulled out the ipod and put the same song on. Later my husband moved him back to his room, and when he woke up in the morning he was happy.
I asked him if he remembered the storm. He said, "Yes and you made me a nice song to make me all better. Thank you mommy!" I smiled but really it wasn't me. I am so thankful for beautiful and simple songs to make us feel the peace of God in the midst of the storm.
God Believes in You - Pierce Pettis
When you start to doubt if you exist
God believes in you
Confounded by the evidence
God believes in you
When your chances seem so slim
When your light burns so dim
And you swear you don't believe in him
God believes in you
When you rise up just to fall again
God believes in you
Deserted by your closest friends
God believes in you
When you're betrayed with a kiss
Turn your cheek to another fist
It doesn't have to end like this
God believes in you
Everything matters if anything matters at all
Everything matters
No matter how big
No matter how small
When you're so ashamed that you could die
God believes in you
And you can't do right even though you try
God believes in you
Blessed are the ones who grieve
The ones who mourn, the ones who bleed
In sorrow you sow
But in joy, you'll reap
God believes in you
Oh, God believes in you
the thunder rolls
After I put my youngest son to bed the other night, I could still hear him talking from his crib. "Turn off, turn off." A repeating, non-stop chant. After a few minutes I went back in. Maybe it was the light from the window, or the nightlight. It's a little hard to figure out exactly what an almost two-year old is talking about. I sat and rocked him for a while, singing to him and talking. I listened to the late evening storm beginning, the thunder in the distance. He still repeated, "turn off, mommy, turn off." "The thunder? Turn of the thunder?" I asked him. His brown eyes widened and he nodded, murmuring "k, k" (his main affirmation) through his paci.
I smiled when I realized. Explaining to him that I can't turn off the thunder was a little complicated. I told him a story. "When I was little I was afraid of the thunder too. My mom, your Mimi, used to sing me a little song -- God made the lightning go flash! God made the thunder go boom! God made the rain come down really hard and God made it all for you! She sang it to me so many times I still remember the tune. His eyes were getting brighter and he was obviously wide awake. I took him downstairs and showed him the heavy gray clouds, beginning to spill over the big drops that splat on the sidewalk. The warm air blew some rain onto us in the doorway. He was frantically talking now, "Clouds, rain, clouds, clouds, rain, water, rain, God, clouds." When my husband came home he was still going strong, telling him all about it.
He took him upstairs after a while, rocked him, sang him songs, now that the thunder was gone, he calmed down.
Later we realized this was probably the first storm that he could remember. Being so small, he just couldn't pull up the memories of the past storms. I realized how I take these great big earth-shaking, God-produced storms as part of life, a normal part of my world, but to him it truly was a magnificent event, a once-in-a-lifetime nature moment to be remembered. He woke up thinking about clouds and rain.
I was thinking about Psalm 29.
"1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace."
I thanked God for giving me such a sweet reminder of His voice, through the voice of the thunder, through the voice of my child.
I smiled when I realized. Explaining to him that I can't turn off the thunder was a little complicated. I told him a story. "When I was little I was afraid of the thunder too. My mom, your Mimi, used to sing me a little song -- God made the lightning go flash! God made the thunder go boom! God made the rain come down really hard and God made it all for you! She sang it to me so many times I still remember the tune. His eyes were getting brighter and he was obviously wide awake. I took him downstairs and showed him the heavy gray clouds, beginning to spill over the big drops that splat on the sidewalk. The warm air blew some rain onto us in the doorway. He was frantically talking now, "Clouds, rain, clouds, clouds, rain, water, rain, God, clouds." When my husband came home he was still going strong, telling him all about it.
He took him upstairs after a while, rocked him, sang him songs, now that the thunder was gone, he calmed down.
Later we realized this was probably the first storm that he could remember. Being so small, he just couldn't pull up the memories of the past storms. I realized how I take these great big earth-shaking, God-produced storms as part of life, a normal part of my world, but to him it truly was a magnificent event, a once-in-a-lifetime nature moment to be remembered. He woke up thinking about clouds and rain.
I was thinking about Psalm 29.
"1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace."
I thanked God for giving me such a sweet reminder of His voice, through the voice of the thunder, through the voice of my child.
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