For the Kingdom Belongs to Such as These

 
The kingdom belongs to such as these. My kid is 3 ½ and he loves music. I mean, he really loves music. Right now, peeking into his playroom, he has 2 ukeleles, 1 acoustic guitar, 1 electric guitar, a piano, a keyboard, a drum set and a percussion set. You would think he would get tired of it, but nope…around our house the theme is consistently, “Keep Calm and Play Music”. That is what he does.

At Christmas 2 years ago, my sweet parents had driven 3 hours from their home to have Christmas up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with all of us. My brother, sister in law and I live near each other, so we had all gathered together at my brother’s house to celebrate Christmas. My parents, as generous as they are, had brought many different presents for Wes to open on Christmas Eve. Everyone had their presents lined up in front of them. As we began taking turns opening them one at a time, Wesley had his turn. He opened up his first present to find a large fire truck puzzle. He looked straight at me with a scowl on his face, (at 2 years old by the way) and said loudly and rudely, “Where’s my cello?” … Um, WHAT? “What are you talking about Wes? What cello? You’ve never mentioned a cello.” “Yes, mom I want a cello. Where is it?” I very quietly got down in his little selfish face and said, “Listen to me, there are no cellos in any of these presents. You will be kind and say ‘thank you’ for all of these gifts. Do you understand me?” “Yes mam.” Then he stood up and left Christmas. He didn’t even care to open any of the other presents. Since there was no cello, then there was no reason to stick around for the rest of his presents or Christmas in general.” THAT, my friends, is how you humiliate your mom on Christmas Eve. After some serious discipline, Wes came back and finished Christmas with the rest of us without a cello. The following Christmases have been a much better success. The kid loves music.

Since I know this about him, I want to do my best to steer that love towards Christian music. Music is powerful and can really change the emotional state or mood of a person. Knowing that my child is influenced by music, I want to do my very best to engage him in godly music. I feel like it might be paying off. About 4 months ago, we were listening to a song called, “You’re Beautiful” by Phil Wickham and Wes asked me to play it several times that day. We then would listen to it periodically in the car as we were driving and we would both sing it out loudly in the car together.

If you don’t know the lyrics to the song, here they are:

I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say You're beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It's all proclaiming who You are, You're beautiful
You're beautiful

I see You there hanging on a tree
You bled and then You died
And then You rose again for me
Now You are sitting on Your Heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home, You're beautiful
You're beautiful

We're singing loud

When we arrive at eternity's shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together
And we'll sing You're beautiful
You're beautiful

I see Your face, You're beautiful
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face, You're beautiful
You're beautiful, You're beautiful

I see Your face, I see Your face
I see Your face, You're beautiful
You're beautiful, You're beautiful

Just recently, Wes and I were out on a bike ride and Wes was hooked behind me in the kid trailer. I had just pumped my way up a steep hill in my neighborhood and was barely breathing as I made the turn to come down the hill with him behind me. As I slowed down on my pedaling, the momentum picked up and we both began speeding down the hill together. I was silent and recouping as the wind was hitting me in the face and I was inhaling the fresh air as it whipped by me, then I heard it…it wasn’t soft and it wasn’t low, this giant 3 year old voice yelled out, “YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL GOD!” I gasped and turned around as best as I could…speechless… “What did you say Wes?” Then there it was again, loud and clear, “I told God, ‘YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL GOD’”.

I had no words. I rode the rest of the way, tears welling up in my eyes, thanking the Lord for the mouths of babes. The kingdom belongs to such as these. When is the last time I yelled out in my loudest voice while riding my bike, “YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL GOD!” What a mighty chant. What a beautiful picture, what a powerful phrase.

A God moment. 

For all of the moments, he has yelled out something like, “No, I don't want to do that,” or “Why do I have to do this? I don’t like it,” or had meltdowns screaming at Target or tantrums at the mall…somehow this one commanding phrase, “You’re beautiful God,” covers them all. These simple words from the mouth of a 3 year old outweigh the many other phrases he yells out that aren’t so godly.

God, you are indeed, beautiful and I thank you for speaking to my child and for speaking to me through him. Your creation is beautiful and your works are wonderful. I love you and I will shout out your beauty as often as I can.