rejoice

*

By Margie B. Miller, pilot’s wife and mother of two, and writer in the empty spaces not filled by dinner, laundry, or the cat.

We – my husband, two daughters ages seven and five, and I – attend a Bible church.  Every year I enroll in at least two Bible studies.  I listen to lectures about books of the Bible on podcasts, and read the Bible in the morning.  I’ve been actively studying the Bible for over twenty years.

One could say I am well-versed in the Bible, but the opposite, in fact, is true: Un-versed would be apt; verse-averse would be better.  Though I get the Big Picture – the sweeping narrative, the signs and characters that point to Jesus as fulfillment of Old Testament scripture and prophecy – little things like chapter, verse, and sub-verse escape me.

Alone, this would not appear to be a big issue.  Alone, the time I spend covering (and often re-learning) various passages should be enough.  My faith in Jesus remains solid; I know where I stand.

However, I am not alone.  I am a mother.  And as such, the job to which the Lord entrusted me includes the sharing and teaching of faith with my children.  We are nearly beyond the Rhyme Bible Storybook and Beginners Bible – simple stories with brightly-colored pictures – so the task will soon get a bit more complicated.  And suddenly, I am all too aware how ill-equipped I am for the task at hand.

But enter, stage left, a new instruction tool: Scripture as song.  The music downloaded to my phone is upbeat and repetitive, and the girls have responded with humming and singing.  I felt more than a little gratified when Sarah, age five, asked, “What does it mean when it says ‘Whatever you do, do to the glory of God?’”

It’s for the girls, I told my husband and sister-in-law, as I prepared to download more.  It’s for the girls, I told my mother-in-law.

He will take great delight in you

He will quiet you with his love

He will rejoice you over with singing, O the Lord your God is with you…

I hum and mull over the words beneath a fresh fall sky boldly ushering forth the colors of the coming season, and think, he loves me.  I start a load of laundry – school uniforms, socks, pajamas, my husband’s shirts – and think, he loves me.  I kiss the girls at bedtime and remind them again of the coming school day.  The door closes behind me, quietly.  He loves me.

I begin to sing.

The words that escaped me before are ever present, filling my mind and softening my heart.  Long, routine days of preparing meals, folding clothes, and helping with homework have become suffused with richness and purpose.  Knowledge becomes knowing, and favor becomes love.

The music, acquired for teaching, has, instead, taught me.

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 you over with singing

(Zephaniah 3:17)

I sing again.