I was out for dinner the other day with F and a friend of mine and there was a guy singing live music, as the man was playing F was casually dancing away to the music. As he did my friend commented ‘What is it about music that makes us want to move?!’ It seems like we are born to appreciate it, even little babies react to music and without being taught children seem to ‘dance’ to varying degrees of ability. It seems to be that we were created to love music.
The bible talks a lot about music in fact the longest book in the bible is a songbook; I believe that God created us to make music and to enjoy it. I believe God uses music to enable us to live life in all its fullness. I have seen recently how music has impacted my life; in my faith, in my relationship with my father who has dementia and in my relationship with my son. Let me briefly explain how in each case.
Firstly F………Some of my best times with F are spent dancing in the kitchen, on the landing (we have a big one, makes for a great dance floor!), in the front room, in my room, ….. in fact in every room!
We dance to a variety of music ranging from…. ‘Let’s go fly a kite’, to ‘no limit’ to ‘Great big God’ back to ‘You are my Sunshine (substituting Sunshine for his name). Music brings fun, laughter and energy into our times together. But it can also be used to calm him down when he is feeling frustrated, agitated or angry.
I have also found music and made up silly songs a great tool in aiding him to do things. An example of a current song being used is ‘five little carrots of F’s plate, five little carrots of F’s plate when F eats one that will make….. four little carrots on F’s plate’.
F has a great memory and seems to love singing. At forest school he was wondering around picking up leaves and twigs merrily singing to himself. In the bath he sings ‘God made you and you and you and me’ and ‘Our God is a great big God’. My prayer is that these truths he is singing will sink in and he will grow up knowing his identity as a son of God.
Secondly my faith ……I feel so privileged that I have been going to church since the day dot. I have grown up listening to and singing praise and worship to Jesus and for me it is one of the best ways I connect with God. My favourite song at the moment is ‘I raise a hallelujah’ because the lyrics have been so true in my live particularly at the moment.
‘I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me
I’m gonna sing, in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive!
I raise a hallelujah, with everything inside of me
I raise a hallelujah, I will watch the darkness flee
I raise a hallelujah, in the middle of the mystery
I raise a hallelujah, fear you lost your hold on me!’
For me praise and worship is my greatest weapon against negative thoughts, against depression, against unbelief. It lifts me and fills me again with faith and hope.
Finally my Dad with dementia….. I recently went to visit my dad and the man who organises the activities there showed me a video of my dad singing old classic with the singer who had come in to perform that day. My reaction took me by surprise….. I started to well up. On reflection I think it just made my heart so glad to see my dad full of joy. He is often agitated, cross and confused. But to see him dancing in the chair singing to old songs made me nearly burst into tears of joy. It is amazing how although he can’t remember his family, how to eat and more than often than not makes absolutely no sense he can still sing songs that he sung as he was growing up.
My prayer is that as F grows up he will see the power of music and that the biblical truths he sings will be imbedded into his being.
I am thankful for the truths I have had sung over me and sung myself as I have grown up in church and I will continue to use sung worship as my weapon.
I am thankful that music calms my dad down and brings joy to his heart.
Thank you God for music!
