As a mother of seven, I have grown accustomed to a certain amount of noise. Not any specific noise, just the sound of people moving around and living their lives. My kids argue like other kids. They irritate each other and pull jokes and tricks on each other just like everyone else's kids. They make noise. At this time of year, they make a special, joyful noise that makes me see God in them. It touches my heart and makes tears of love flow down my face.
They sing.
Especially at this time of year, they sing Christmas tunes. They sing church tunes, and Christmas carols. They sing every good and loving and Christmassy song they can think of. Then they make up parodies and sing those for a while and laugh at how hilarious they are. My kids are definitely hilarious...and creative.
Their Grandma Swager was a singer and a piano teacher. She had a beautiful voice, and her children inherited her musical talent. So did her grandkids, and some of them sang at the Christmas Concert at school today. She only got to meet one of her grandkids before she died of Cancer in 1995. If I haven't forgotten any, she's up to 36 grandkids. My kids have never met her, and yet she is so much a part of their lives.
When they sing, they honor her, and I feel her smiling down from Heaven. I can see her face, beaming with pride. She smiles at her Maker, approvingly, as if she's so pleased to have been a part of their creation story. She smiles at us, their parents, reminding us to see the beauty in them and telling us to enjoy the foretaste of the singing angels in Heaven. I see her in them, and it makes me feel closer to her, and makes me want to be more like her. More loving. More appreciative. More holy. More willing to give it all. She spent her life loving her kids, just as I want to spend my life loving mine. When they sing, it dissolves the petty, unimportant stuff, and sounds like pure love.
My children have beautiful singing voices. As the old Baptist preacher used to say,"The Bible says to make a joyful noise. It don't mean it has to be pretty!" But my, what a gift it is when your children open their mouths in joyful, prayerful, music and such a beautiful song of praise comes out!
Today I heard a very joyful noise.
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