Singing in the Dents
Several years ago on a Wednesday evening after Bible class, I was sitting with my young son Luke over in the wing of the church building. We were singing, and as we sang (he was still learning to read) we kept our fingers in the songbook in order to follow the words. I remember that he was picking the words up so quickly and I can recall feeling that there was no other thing that could please me more than to hear my child sing to the Lord.
Later that evening when we went to bed, I was reading a Bible story to him. (This had become our custom every night right before he went to sleep). In the middle of reading Luke interrupted me and said, “Daddy, when I am big like you I am going to sing in the dents.” It took me just a few seconds, but I realized he was talking about the notes that follow the melody down in the bass clef when the sopranos aren’t singing. It takes a deeper voice that knows those particular parts of the song to “sing in the dents.”
As I get older, I think more and more about what legacy I may be leaving to my children. Trials of life and the uncertainty of the future keeps these thoughts ever nearer to my mind and heart. And even if it is something as simple as “singing in the dents,” it brings me great joy that when Luke wants to be anything like his father, it has do to with spiritual things. Incidentally, now that is he is fourteen he is doing a pretty good job down there in the dents.
Parents, please, please teach your children about God. Turn off your electronics and put away your phones for a while and open His word. Sing about Him and pray to Him with your children. Sing aloud in the assembly, whether you think your voice is good or not. Leave a legacy to your children that will reach into eternity in a positive way. Your decisions, though seemingly small, are the difference makers in your children’s future in the Lord.
The time that our children will be in our home is very short. Ask an empty nester. They could tell younger parents a great deal about the things that really matter. They know that the church of the future is counting on families to do a better job in emphasizing the spiritual aspects of our lives in Christ than what we have done in the past. Somebody once observed – “The reason why the church loses 50% of its young people to the world is because it has never had 50% to lose in the first place.” The point is simply that 50% of the parents have never been truly converted to Christ! If this is the case, what are we supposed to expect from the kids?
My heart is full when I see young people who desire to know the Lord. I am excited to see their parents bring them to Bible class, Lads to Leaders, Bible Bowl, and other events with the brethren. I understand what this can mean for them on earth and in heaven. And I look forward to the time when all the saints will praise God for eternity in everlasting peace with God the Father, Son, and Spirit. It is my earnest and fervent prayer, that others yet unreached by the gospel will also be there – where my son and I, by the grace of God, and according to our obedience, will be forever, “singing in the dents.”
“Time is filled with swift transition. Naught of earth unmoved can stand.
Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God’s unchanging hand.”
~ Jennie Wilson
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