Today’s Reading: Zephaniah 3:17
Have you ever watched a preschooler sing? Most often, they belt out whatever tune comes into their heads with wild, reckless abandon, little bodies vibrating with enthusiasm and joy. Often in music class, reminders to “sing sweetly” and to “remember not to shout” are required! No holding back, no stifling the Spirit, only exuberant joy bubbling out of hearts overflowing with the wonder and excitement of singing, gushing to the surface and vigorously spilling out in floods of vibrant sound. There is no judgment or condemnation, simply a wondrous cacophony of joy!
Most telling is the complete lack of embarrassment over one’s own voice. Small children have not yet been told “don’t sing.” They have not developed shame in their sound or discomfiture with the tones heard in another’s ears. They sing because there is music in their souls and to deny that music is to deny themselves.
One of my favorite pieces of music is called “And the Father Will Dance,” based loosely on a somewhat obscure passage in Zephaniah. At the end of Zephaniah 3:17, it says that God will “joy over us with singing.” Have you ever thought of God singing? It says God does. And because we are created in the very image of God, our voices are an echo of God’s voice, a whisper of the Divine, a remnant of creation. Children seem to know this best. Unstifled by expectations, they sing – wholeheartedly, with abandon, unafraid – they sing. Jesus said unless we become as little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And I like to think his eyes twinkled as he said it, because he knew children best. He gave them their voice. And he gave you yours. So…sing. With childlike abandon, sing! And experience a whisper of heaven as you do!
“He who sings prays twice.” —Saint Augustine
Written by Cayanna Herrera