Two of my favorite words in the English language – joy and music. They DO go hand in hand, right? I mean, how can you be sad singing praises to the King of Kings!
My mom tells me when I was as little as 2, I would go around the house singing and singing while holding a baby. Not much changed as I grew up into a teen and was always holding the babies in the church while practicing for some special.
Fast forward to marriage and babies of my own and I was in my element. Rocking and nursing them to sleep as I sang them songs. My husband grew up playing the piano. He has a natural talent in music! I grew up playing the piano and clarinet and singing in the church. When our first five children were little we busily served in our church and didn’t give much thought to their musical training. I sadly regret this but the Lord laid it on our hearts to start them in piano when they were about 9 years old. All the children did well with that and as we moved around the country for my husband’s jobs, God provided our children with the interest and means to start learning different instruments.
The year, 2015, saw them playing the cello and flute and trumpet as well as the piano. We had music so much of the time in our house that while I was pregnant with our 6th blessing, she heard music right from the womb. When she was born in Feb. 2016, she already had a sense of calm around music and we all enjoyed playing for her.
Music calmed her down and made her smile. In the picture above, the kids are singing a song from “Little Einsteins” which is a show that uses classical music and puts words to it. Mellie loved it.
I knew then that she HAD to be as involved in music as our kids. My husband took on the responsibility of Music Minister when we moved back to our home church in Iowa and we all started playing in an orchestra there. She came to all our practices and he’d let her “play” our instruments at home. She was hooked. Mostly, she loved the cello but the flute was a close second.
I have become convinced that music is one of THE most important things you can teach your children. I do not mean any music but godly music. It is SUCH a joy and a balm for the soul and can be used so much in service to God. Think of the musical talent (godly) that our churches are missing out on today! David loved music and in I Chronicles 15:16, it says, “And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.” Music, instruments, joy – such a good pattern to have.
In II Chronicles 5:13, they used their musical abilities to lift their praises to God. “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever:…” I don’t believe anyone walked away from that sad or depressed. Praising God is one of the best medicines for depression!
The book of Psalms is full of verses that remind us to sing unto the Lord. One that is really good is Psalm 9:2 – “I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.” The words “glad” and “rejoice” have to go along with singing praises to our God. He has made me glad. I will rejoice in Him!
So, can we see how important godly music can be in our children’s lives? I would venture to say that it is important from Day 1 for them. As they grow up with godly music how will this affect their spirit? May I suggest – greatly? Melanie is such an example of this. Child of my old age (I was 44 when I had her); she has a mom affected by daily pain and agony from a chronic illness. She spent most of her first couple of years near me. While not all bad, she could have been a rather difficult child but I do believe thanks to God’s goodness, some discipline (she has been such an easy baby) and with music going on around her all the time she has been our best baby! She is always happy and joyful and it shows in all she does.
Proverbs 22:6 tells us to, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” As Deuteronomy 6 instructs us to teach our children the words of God and to do it diligently (read it here), one way we can get the Bible and its doctrine into the children is through godly music. So many good hymns to teach them and discuss with them.
If I can encourage you in one area of your child’s life, it would be to train them up in godly music. Sports have their place as a fun outlet but music can be taken through their whole life and be used for God. How can we follow Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth”? Singing can be a major tool in this as well as playing the piano or a musical instrument.
You can enjoy Pierre’s music by subscribing to his YouTube channel here but here is a snippet of some of our family music. Or click here to hear a collection of hymns.
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