Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 105 verses 1 and 2a:
1 Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name; *
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him . . .
Ask any group of children in the world ages 7 and under which of them sing or dance and every single one of them will raise their hand. Children love to sing and to dance and to act jubilantly. What child does not delight in waving an invisible candle before them as they sing This Little Light of Mine or rolling their arms left and then right with invisible waves singing I Got a River of Life Flowing Out of Me.
What happens to us as we grow old? Why do we lose the song? Why do we let others tell us we can’t dance or sing? Where goes our light? Who dammed our river?
I look out on the congregation on Sunday morning. Some – especially men – sing not a word of psalm or hymn or spiritual song. I wonder if a closed mouth is not a sign of a closed heart – a heart still afraid of being wounded, broken, teased, or taunted.
I look out and I think of Pharaoh with his heart of cold stone – a man who could hear the Hebrews’ songs of sorrow and hope and hope in sorrow but never himself even hum a bar.
“Sing to him,” the psalmist says. “Sing praises to him.”
For He loves the songs of His children and we are all his children – even when we’ve grown old.
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