My boys listen to worship music as they fall asleep each night.  Our current CD of choice is Arriving by Chris Tomlin. 

When my boys were younger I would sing them to sleep.  It started one night when Josiah was 1 and became a habit after a while.  After Elijah arrived on the scene almost 4 years later than Josiah, my oldest son had an instant roomie.  They shared a room until Josiah was 6 and shared a double bed for a while when neither one wanted to sleep alone. 

I would crawl in between them, lie down to read them a Bible story, and then start singing.  I have a repertoire that’s developed through the years.  My first two songs are Lord Prepare Me and Create In Me A Clean Heart.  It’s been a while since I sang to them.  They have their own rooms now and my husband and I alternate which one we tuck in at night.

At Family Camp this year we sang a familiar tune in chapel – Lord Prepare Me.  As soon as the words popped up on the screen, my youngest (who is just starting to read) said, “Mommy, you know this song.  You sang it to me when I was a baby going to sleep.”  The biggest smile appeared on my face and spread to my heart.  He remembered.  We exchanged a precious smile and we went on to sing the song. 

When Create In Me A Clean Heart showed up on the screen another day, and my son remembered that one as well, I thanked God for the wonderful gift He was giving to me on the cusp on my older son’s 9th birthday.  Only God knows how I love my boys, how I’ve cherished the moments as best I could, how I look forward to a lifetime of more moments and how sometimes it’s not easy to watch them grow, but it is the biggest blessing in my life.

And so the gifts kept coming that week.  The night before my son’s 9th birthday he couldn’t sleep at all.  After about an hour I remembered the songs, the ones that used to put him to sleep when he was younger.  I asked if he wanted me to sing.  He said “Yes please” and he was out in an instant. 

Another night the power was out as we lay in the tiny cabin that was home for the night at a camp we were visiting.  My oldest son asked, “Can you sing to us?  Your beautiful voice always puts us to sleep.”  And so I sang once more and the peaceful sounds of slumber soon came over Bunkie #3.

Just now, as I was writing this down to share with you, I was given yet another gift.  I asked my youngest son to give me a few minutes of quiet so I could think, I asked him to go see his sleeping daddy.  I heard him speak to Josh for a minute and offer to sing him back to sleep.  And so I hear the words to Lord Prepare Me once more, this time from the mouth of my little-more-than-a-babe, and my heart is full to the brim.

They do listen, they do learn, they do take what we have to give them and they grow in it. 

And I continue to share life with my boys, no matter how old they get, knowing they’ll always need something of me and I’ll always need something of them.