Morning Time Magic - Worship

When I began planning our morning time I did not expect our worship time to take on the importance it has. Not that I thought worship unimportant. I did however think of it more as an "add on" during this portion of our day. But as God often does, He wrapped my heart around a ritual I didn't even know I was missing.

Our worship time began with us simply picking a couple of our favorite songs, pulling them up on youtube and going for it. And that was awesome. Then I remembered I bought Then Sings My Soul. 

I did not grow up in the church and do not have hymn lyrics rattling around in my head from days past. As I looked over some of the songs and found the richness they displayed I couldn't wait to share them with my children.  There is a sense of privilege in singing a song that has been sung by christians for hundreds of years. A connection to those who came before.  

This book is great because it gives the back ground story for each hymn. To hear the stories of tragedy and faith these songs were penned from is something special. Learning with my children that Abide with Me was first heard at the funeral of the man who wrote it, Henry Francis Lyte, in 1847.  Reading about St. Patrick and how his fearless spreading of the gospel allowed the church in Ireland to endure and centuries after his work a poet wrote Be Though My Vision. This book is full of treasures.

I plan a little ahead and hunt down versions of the hymn I want us to learn. I download those so we have them going forward and I make copies of the song sheets for each of the kids. We take out time. We stuck with Be Thou my Vision for no less than a month before we moved on. I truly want this music to seep into their hearts. I want these words to be with them like a loyal friend in years to come when a dark or glorious hour requires worship.

Of course your worship time doesn't need to look like ours. Pull up a Seeds Family Worship song and sing that with your little ones. Those are a great way to get scripture memorized. 

Here are a couple of our other favorites for worship time...

Setting some time aside each day specifically to worship Jesus with your children is time well spent. I believe with all my heart the Lord will bless it. And for me, nothing compares to the sound of those small (and not so small) voices singing,

"I fear no foe,

With Thee at hand to bless:

Ills have no weight,

And tears no bitterness.

Where is death's sting?

Where grave thy victory?

I triumph still,

If Thou abide with me."

-Henry Francis Lyte