More Then Noise

Yesterday evening was a quiet night.   Just the kind I like at the end of a busy week.   My husband and stepson and I hanging out enjoying a little food network and dinner.  When it came time for Christian's bed time, my husband told him first to take a shower.    Away he went begrudgingly to the bathroom (he still hates showers haha) and a moment later we heard singing coming from the back of the house...."Wish we could turn back time, to the good ole days.   When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out. Wish we could turn back time, to the good ole days, when our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out."    My husband and I looked at each other and laughed as he continued to sing this song over and over again at the top of his lungs in the bathroom.     I myself just heard this song for the first time a few days ago at the skating rink and he informed me it was his new favorite song.    It reminded me of my childhood/teenage years of trying to learn every song that was out on the radio and be able to sing each lyric and melody perfectly.  Trying my best to sing along with Maria Carey, or pretending I could rap along with TLC.      But as harmless as his singing was it got me thinking.   How easily did that song get into his 10 year old head.  How easily did it become his favorite.    Don't get me wrong, I understand that you cannot shelter or protect your children from everything the world has to throw at them, but it occurred to me that music is one of the only forms of communication that can sneak a message into our lives nearly undetected.   How many times have you sat in the car singing a song along with the radio without even paying attention to the lyrics you were singing.   How many times have you been watching a movie, maybe even a mildly rated movie that had a song with questionable lyrics that went unnoticed because, well it's a children's movie, it should be safe.   If you are anything like me and my stepson, the thing that catches your attention first is the melody....the melody is what gets stuck in your head and becomes the vehicle to get the message in.  There are even songs I listen too now as an adult that I sang along with as a kid and realize just how negative the message actually was.     Now let me clarify something.....I am not saying it is bad to listen to the radio, or that all artists who do not sing Christian music have terrible messages, but it made me realize just how powerful and important the role of a songwriter can be.  So many artists, when I listen to the radio, follow the formula of writing a song to get air play.  Catchy but empty.   I am reminded of the passage from 1 Corinthians 13:1 "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal".
 With music we have the power to get a message to those who may not be receptive to the idea of going to church or talking about Christ.    To reach them perhaps without them even realizing it by getting the love of Christ stuck in their heads.    To "sneak" in love, by singing love.     To make music that is more then noise.