Today I’m putting together a baby shower gift for a friend and I’m including my “Little Treasures: Singable Bible Verses” CD and booklet, so I thought I’d take a minute to share more about it.
Who is this CD for?
I designed this CD for our 2 and 3 year olds Sunday School class. The idea was to help Sunday School teachers teach Scripture through song, to sing more in the classroom, and to encourage parents to use biblical language at home by helping children learn, recite, and sing simple and clear Scriptures that they could understand and apply immediately in their little lives.
But I’m afraid to sing out loud
You can’t be shy of singing in front of your own children in your own home. So this is the perfect place to start, and bonus if they’re so little they can’t even tell you you sound bad! The more you practice the better you will get, so start now and eventually it will become second nature. I remember with my oldest son waiting in line at the grocery store calming him with a story book song called “Mole Music.” We listened to it so often that he knew the tune and had it memorized. He wasn’t even 2 at the time, but it quieted him down immediately when he started to get antsy so I would sing it while we waited for our turn to check out. It helped the time pass, but it also gave me the idea that if he could recognize and love a tune at the age of 1 then I should be striving all the sooner to fill his mind with songs of Scripture.
My husband would not consider himself a great singer. In fact, I would say the same thing for myself. It all depends on who you’re comparing yourself to though. And that’s the problem right there: you’re comparing. Don’t compare. Not when it comes to a personal God-given gift (no matter how small). Because singing isn’t an option in the Bible. It’s commanded. We’re commanded to sing, to worship God, and to declare His truth as in Psalm 96:1-3:
“Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
or Ephesians 5:19, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” We can all sing. We must all sing. And you know what? I’ve seen a dramatic increase in the ability as musicality of my husband as he has been to sing around the house with the children.
And that is the true secret to “Little Treasures: Singable Bible Verses.” It is for the children, but it is also for the parents. It’s the first baby step to training our minds as parents to use biblical language when communicating with our children. We say we want to obey the Bible and teach it to our children as in Deuteronomy 6:6-9: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” But if we do not share the actual truths of Scripture when they are little, when will find “find time” or the “perfect opportunity” or the “perfect age” or the “right situation” to bring it up? It should be second-nature for us to speak the Scriptures. It should flow from our mouths. And if children learn oh so well through song (perhaps even earlier and better than speaking as was observed by my oldest) then why not start young with teaching Scripture through music even in the most simplest of verses and truths. Don’t let fear of man stop you from sharing Christ with your own flesh and blood. God tells us oh so many time to not fear: “So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones” (Genesis 50:21). Just start singing!
Tell me about the songs
And this is why the CD is only about 15 minutes long: there are 12 songs that each repeat twice and one “All” song that repeats everything all in one final track so each song is actually heard 4 times. The truths are simple, the verses and songs are short, and you can sing them quickly in any situation. Of course, being biblical truth they are not limited by age. Children younger and older than 2-3 can learn from them. Adults need to remind ourselves “Be still before the Lord” and “Love is patient, love is kind” and “Share what you have, share what you have, always do good” So the titles, verses, and songs are all so simple. But that is what makes it a truly helpful CD. Here is a list of the songs:
- Obey – Ephesians 6:1
- Love – 1 Corinthians 13:4
- Share – Hebrews 13:16
- Help – 1 Thessalonians 5:14
- Clean – 1 John 1:9
- Come – Joshua 3:9
- Sing – Psalm 30:4
- Walk – Proverbs 2:20
- Run – Proverbs 18:10
- Sit – Psalm 139:2
- Wait – Psalm 37:7
- Pray – James 5:16
A funny side note. Number 12 was supposed to be about prayer and I had a song ready to record, but after I heard it on the CD while it was printing it suddenly hit me that I recorded the wrong one! I actually recorded a song titled “Peace” meant to be the ending to a long day and help a child sleep like in nap time, but I accidentally left it labeled as “Pray” when I printed the CDs the first time. I never changed the name, but for some reason that was God’s will! I’ll have to save “Pray” for another CD! The verse goes along with “Pray” not “Peace” in the CD, but I will have to change that mistake some other day.
I tried to think of very small, simple actions that a 2-3 year old would be capable of doing and understanding. In fact, a partial inspiration to several of these songs came from “Psalms of Praise: A Movement Primer (Baby Believer)” where simple actions are set to beautiful illustrations and verses from the Bible. I used that book with my first 18 month old and we loved acting out the motions to each page, but I found that the verses were too long for him to connect the dots. Then I would try to sing the verse to keep him engaged and that worked a little better, but when I came up with this CD of simple verses conveying the same truths it stuck with us better!
Well, I think that’s it for now. Like I’ve said before I’m not a professional singer and yet I have chosen to set aside the lack of my musical abilities to finish this project and share these ideas with others. I hope it will be an encouragement to parents who think they can’t sing (don’t worry, I’m not always in tune myself!) and to show that even with an extremely minimal piano accompaniment so as not to distract the children from the words, you too can teach your little ones the truths of Scripture in a way that that is tangible and applicable today.