Be careful little ears what you hear....

I've been told that I'm a bit uptight and somewhat sheltering of my kids before. The comment generally comes on the heels of people discovering that my kids only listen to praise/worship or classical music (and obviously the ever popular "kid music" on occasion). While it is probably true, I am really OK with that.

I always thrived as an auditory learner growing up. I would intentionally record myself and listen to it to aid in memory and always classically have "jukebox syndrome" (you know, where every word you hear conjures up song lyrics and I randomly burst out in song. That's normal, right?).

Evidently, Anna-Kate shares my auditory learning abilities. The other day I overheard her talking to Baby Kate. She was trying to soothe her crying baby and I heard her say, "hear the shepherds' song Baby Kate" and then proceeded to recite verbatim (adapted from Psalm 23):

"God is my Shepherd and I am His little lamb. He feeds me He guides me He looks after me. I have everything I need. Inside, my heart is very quiet. As quiet as lying still in soft green grass in a meadow by a little stream. Even when I walk through the dark, scary, lonely places I won't be afraid because my Shepherd knows where I am. He is here with me. He keeps me safe. He rescues me. He makes me strong and brave. He is getting wonderful things ready for me, especially for me. Everything I ever dreamed of! He fills my heart so full of happiness I can't hold it all inside. Wherever I go I know God's never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always, and forever love will go too!" (from The Jesus Storybook Bible--it's excellent, fyi, if you are looking for a good family devotional).

That's a lot of words for a little girl to remember. I stood there silently, with tears in my eyes and watched her stroke her little babes' head as she spoke with love. She looked up and saw me and I asked her what she had said and where she had learned that. The book we read at family devotion also came with cd's (which I had completely forgotten about). She listens to them often during her quiet rest time. She has a many chapters of this book memorized!

I do not believe that secular music is bad or wrong. We own plenty of it. One summer during college I decided that for the entire summer I wouldn't listen to secular music in my car. It killed me. I felt so out of touch with what and who was cool. I grew a lot that summer spiritually, and I believe it is, in part, because my mind was filled with songs of praise all day. So, a couple of years ago I decided to purpose to keep a tight reign on the music my kids hear.

So, for any who wonder why I listen to Christian music in the car with the kids, my reason is this. Why not? It doesn't bother me. Whatever I listen to will be stuck in my head, it might as well be something that points me to Christ and readjusts my thoughts off of myself. In addition, my kids are listening. Even if lyrics aren't "bad", why not use the opportunity to fill their minds with higher thoughts?