How much do you sing in your home? This is a real challenge to me. I love to have beautiful music playing as I work, doing Above Rubies or doing housework, but I have to admit I don't sing myself as much as I should. Sometimes I spontaneously sing for joy, but I want to do it more.
I shared in my post below, LIVING STRESS FREE IN A STRESSFUL WORLD, that music and singing are one of the ways we release oxytocin, which is the "stress relieving" hormone. God, our Creator, understands this, and of course, this is why the Bible is filled with admonitions to sing to the Lord, to sing aloud, to sing for joy, to sing praises, to sing with thanks, and to sing a new song,
The Bible couples together "rejoicing and singing," "laughter and singing," and "dancing and singing."
We listen to a lot of music today. It is normal to see young people listening to music with their headphones. But how often do we actually sing? I remember growing up in a little town in New Zealand. Many men walked to work and you could hear them whistling as they walked? We rarely hear whistling today.
I remember my father telling me how that after a hard day's work and evening meal, his parents would hitch the horses to the buggy, and with the family and portable organ, would go off to the neighbors to sing their hearts out together. They had no TV in those days and this is how they enjoyed their evenings. I am sure they enjoyed lots of oxytocin.
One of my favorite things to do is to gather people into our home for a hymn sing, especially with those who know the old hymns and sing them with gusto. However, we do sing a hymn every morning and evening at our Family Devotions, and we sing hymns together at our weekly prayer meeting. Many of our grandchildren come to the prayer meeting (they are great prayer warriors, right down to the little ones). It was such joy to hear them all singing the hymns this week. When we sang, "More, more about Jesus," they sang it thunderously!
Colin and I were in Scotland a couple of years ago and we went to a prayer meeting where these Scottish Christians sang some hymns before they prayed. I have never in my life heard such singing and harmonies. There were only about 20 people but you would have thought there were a thousand people! I want to go back to that church and relive it all over again.
I love many of the current worship songs, which we sing at our church fellowship on Sunday, but I do believe that as we embrace the new, we should not discard the old. I feel sad that many young people today do not know the wonderful old hymns, filled with truth and sound doctrine. Plus, they are much easier to sing to for congregational singing. I want all my grandchildren to be familiar with these hymns.
We always give thanks before each meal, but I think we should sing graces more too. We always sing when the whole family comes together. The other night I put on a 50th birthday for Evangeline and Stephen and before the meal over sixty of us sang grace. It is awesome to sing together, especially when we get to the harmonies of the Amen.
During the days of the tabernacle and the temple, the Levites sang and worshipped the Lord through every morning and evening sacrifice (which revealed a type for our morning and evening devotions today). We read the description of what happened in King Hezekiah's time: "And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded, and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. . . . Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer (the writers of most of the psalms). And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped" (2 Chronicles 29:27-30).
Therefore, dear ladies, if you want to eliminate the stress in your home, begin to sing more. Let's all begin to sing more. Sing out loud. Sing as a family. Sing at your Family Devotions together. Plan a night to sing and worship with friends and family. Sing when you give thanks at the table.
And what about this idea? One night you could plan a supper time where you don't talk at the table, but only sing. Everyone sings their requests to pass something to them, or whatever they want to share about!
Have a great singing day,
Nancy Campbell
Sing OUT LOUD: Nehemiah 12:42, 43; Psalm 51:14; 59:16; 81:1; 132:16; 149:5; Isaiah 24:14; 54:1; and Revelation 19:5-7.
Sing a NEW SONG: Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10; Revelation 5:9; and 14:3.
Picture: Some of our grandchildren singing "On Christ the Solid Rock I stand," one of their favorite hymns. L. to r: Arrow Johnson, Cedar Allison, and Noble Barrett.
P.S. I'd love to hear from you and how you sing as a family in your home.