Lullabies

by Rachel Hill

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Jude at seven months

I just finished putting the kids down for their naps.  We have fallen into a bit of a ritual where I turn off the lights and rock Jude for a few minutes while singing a few lullabies to him and Evie.  I started singing the first lullaby that came to mind, “Hush Little Baby”.  In case you don’t remember it, here’s how it goes:

Hush little baby, don’t say a word

Momma’s gonna buy you a mockingbird

If that mockingbird don’t sing, momma’s gonna buy you a diamond ring

And if that diamond ring turn brass, momma’s gonna buy you a looking glass

And if that looking glass gets broke, momma’s gonna buy you a billy goat

And if that billy goat won’t pull, momma’s gonna buy you a cart and bull

And if that cart and bull turns over, momma’s gonna buy you a doggy named Rover

And if that doggy named Rover won’t bark, momma’s gonna buy you a horse and cart

And if that horse and cart falls down,

You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town

Bad grammar aside, I found myself thinking about what the words of that song were really saying.  I mean, here is this momma who is giving one gift after another that keeps getting broken and messed up.  And the wording, in passive voice, carefully fails to place blame.  Now I don’t know about you, but pretty much every time my son comes up to me and shows me a broken toy, he tells me that “It broke.”  Somehow, magically and mysteriously, without any involvement from him, it just sort of… broke.  You and I both know that at least nine times out of ten, my almost three year old did something to mess up his toy.  And every parenting book in the world tells us that we would be a fool to keep replacing those broken toys, one after another.  And certainly not with even bigger and better toys.

So back to the song.  This momma never even takes a moment to discuss who was at fault; the grace is so complete that fault is a total non-issue.  And without even missing a beat, she replaces it with something else.  I think this is the way it is with our Heavenly Father.  We break stuff, he forgives us.  He fixes it or gives us something else.  We break it again, we mess it up, we run it over or fail to take care of it, he gives us grace.  Grace, grace, grace, again and again and again and again.  And at the end of the day, when there seem to be no gifts left because our sin has destroyed them all, we are still his most precious, sweetest, little baby in town.

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Evie at seven months

The second song I sang was the ever popular, “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands”.  Again for reference, the verses go something like this:

He’s got the whole world, in His hands

He’s got the whole wide world, in His hands

He’s got the whole world, in His hands

He’s got the whole world in His hands

He’s got the mommies and the daddies

In His hands….

Well, you get the idea.

It’s a great song to sing with little ones because of the repetition, and again, I think the repetition may be as much for me as for my littles.  After the first couple of verse, where He has the mommies and the daddies in His hands, the little bitty babies in His hands, you and me brother in His hands, etc. Jude and I like to make up verses.  We sang about how

He’s got Jude and Evie in His hands

He’s got Nana and Papa in His hands

He’s got Grammy and Paul in His hands

He’s got the whole worlds in His hands.

Jude’s next verse went something like this:

He’s got Sadie and Moe (the family dogs) in His hands

He’s got Will and Lauren (his cousins) in His hands

He’s got Aunt Sarah and Uncle Johnny, in His hands

He’s got the whole world in His hands.

Then Jude started calling out the names of our friends and neighbors on our street…

Miss Maiya and Ra’Niya, in His hands

Charelle and Nekayla, in His hands,

Di’Amos and Talicia, in His hands,

the whole world in His hands.

He called out the names of everyone he could think of in his little world (probably because he was stalling naptime, but still).  He called out Curt and Maya, in His hands.  That one got me a little choked up, and then I started calling out anyone and everyone I could think of, even things, not just people.

He’s got mel-a-noma, in His hands

He’s got contractors who won’t call you back, in His hands

He’s got leaky skylights, in His hands

He’s got the whole world in His hands

 

He’s got my hurting back in His hands

He’s got Kevin’s nausea, in His hands

He’s got all the broken people, in His hands

He’s got the whole world in His hands.

 

He’s got all of our problems, in His hands.

He’s got all our sins, in His hands

He’s got you and He’s got me, in His hands.

He’s got the whole world in His hands.

 

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 irene gram May 17, 2012 at 10:44 am

Beautiful… you Rachel and Jude seem to have transcended this crazy
mixed up world into a place of love and calm – in God’s hands…Peace.
Love, Irene

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