Breakfast Concerts
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Psalms 100:2 NIV
Oh my little Ellie. At barely 6 months old she found her thumb, and it sure did make me giggle!
According to the pictures I have from the time, the habit only lasted about 3 weeks. I'm grateful for the photo evidence; there was so much to put to memory as they all crawled around the living room floor!
That silly girl wasn't exceptionally good at sucking her thumb, at least in the traditional sense. For some reason, she always had her hand wide open. My imagination saw her playing a trumpet!
Now that she and her sisters are in 5th grade, they've started band. And it's Amera playing the trumpet. Ellie picked clarinet and Leni the drums. Do not fear! Sylvia is not left out. They let her use the recorders.
Last Thursday morning, before school, we had a breakfast symphony. Disney music was playing in the background. Olive was chewing on a bone as loud as she could. The first notes of "Jingle Bells" entered the air, with the ironing board as the music stand. Which sent Oscar into howling. Leni kept beat on the table. And not to be outdone, Sylvia began belting a totally different Disney song.
I stood in awe in the corner of the kitchen as I held my bowl of cereal, still in my pajamas, glasses still on and wearing Stephen's slippers. I smiled to myself.
It would have been pretty easy to make the noise stop. Instead it felt right to stand a moment and soak in that breakfast symphony that could only be heard in my house, and on that day.
Our homes are all going to be filled with a different sort of symphony soon as we enter into the holiday season. Maybe the next symphony is composed of the noises of the kids being home from school more, or decorations boxes opening and closing, or the hustle and bustle of visitors coming in and out.
In the middle of all the busy and all the things, it's going to be easy to forget to listen. To even wish the noise would just go away. And goodness, we certainly do need some times of quiet. But maybe before we wish it away, we could just take a deep breath and listen.
Have you heard any symphonies lately?
Ellie playing the trumpet, October 2023.
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