{A little note if you are new here...I am joining up with The Nester for a 31 Day blogging series.
To start back at the beginning or find previous days, click here}
(Disclaimer for this series: I want to start off by making the promise that although I will use language like "mom, toddler, home, young, etc...I don't want anyone to feel like this isn't applicable to them at any stage in life. Maybe you are a dad or an aunt or an older sibling with the hard reality of taking care of your youngers. Maybe you have a newborn babe and just can't seem to get through the days without crying. Maybe your kids have all left the house. Maybe you go to work all day and come home and feel like you should relish in all the good things, but find yourself getting just as frustrated with your kids as if you had been home with them all day long. This is for you, too. I only use the language I do because of the personal situation I am in. I am a stay at home mom with a toddler and a new baby on the way. If you would, please don't get hung up on that language. Some days may be harder to apply than others, but there is truth in God's promises that can meet each of you where you are. Thanks. Enjoy, xo.)
I got almost all straight A's through out my school years, but I was never a good student.
Well, that makes no sense.
Stick with me.
I could memorize the information presented and regurgitate it perfectly for a test a few days later. But the part that mattered, the learning, didn't happen much. As easily as I soaked up the information, it slipped right back out of my brain when I was done needing it. And I don't mean just not fresh in my mind, I mean completely gone as if I had never learned it. Because I didn't.
Unfortunately this has followed me into my adult years. I have to be very intentional about actually hearing, listening, and comprehending what people are saying because I will hear you one moment and forget everything you said the next. I can read a book that is very inspirational and within days I've forgotten even the parts that I thought would change my life forever.
Early in our marriage, this drove Bryan insane. Over the years we've learned ways to communicate that involves lots of repetition so that I rarely miss an important meeting anymore.
Fast forward to about a year and a half ago, a few short days after our first son was born.
My husband walked into the nursery where I was singing our son to sleep with a completely dumbfounded look on his face. He shook his head, walked out and left me wondering what I had left running, or out in the rain, or plum forgot to do for him. After putting Ellis down I slowly walked down the steps to accept my fate. He just started laughing.
"What? What the heck did I do?!" I asked...
"How, after all these years of you having the worst memory ever, can you sit in that room and sing song after song after song?! No one knows that many nursery rhymes...let alone you! You (literally) don't remember what we had for dinner last night, but you remember every single word to hundreds of kids songs I have never heard in my life."
This got me thinking. I know all the songs we sang at church camp in middle school. I could sing you every word to the Spice Girls and N'Sync albums. Don't get me started on TLC's Waterfalls. I don't have a single clue what to do with the quadratic equation, but I remember exactly what it is because of the song we learned to memorize it. Our wedding day is a blur, but our first dance I could replay in my head over and over and over.
I could already tell you very little about what the speakers said at the conference this past week...but I've been singing the songs from the worship night since the moment I left.
Music is different.
Music moves.
Music sticks.
We listen to a lot of music and sing a lot of songs around this house. I love the look on Ellis' face when we turn on certain songs. I love that his little body just starts bouncing, as if he has no control over it. We are made to dance. We are made to enjoy and respond to good music. When your little one has a meltdown or is going crazy from being in the house just a little too long, go ahead and turn on some music. Have a little toddler dance party. I find if the music we are surrounding ourselves and our kids with is filled with good messages it can shape our minds and our reactions. I find myself singing the songs throughout the day and just keeps my mind filled with God's promises. And it keeps my son happy. Which does wonders for me and my spirit.
A few of my recent favorites: Reeve Coobs, All Sons and Daughters, Shane and Shane, Dave Barnes, and Ellis would make sure I don't forget Disney Radio :)
I was a professional memorizer...That's actually how I faked being able to read for years! But somewhere along the way, I started having to work A LOT harder at it too. Music, specifically rap lyrics are GLUED in my head. Thankfully, I've been listening to Christian rap (Reach Records, Cross Movement Records, etc) since jr high so it's good stuff. There is just something about music and I'm very glad!
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