I should begin by explaining that our kids have initiated a new bedtime ritual. It started at Christmastime. We differentiated between Christmas songs like "Santa Claus is coming to town" and Christmas hymns, which my kids named "Christmas church songs." And William began to request Christmas church songs before bed. Those requests lasted through most of Epiphany. Come early February, we could all recite all the words to Hark the Herald Angels Sing (I'm not kidding when I say that Penny sat down at my parent's piano and, pretending to play, sang out, "God and sinners reconciled!"), Joy to the World, Silent Night, and O Come All Ye Faithful.
But a few weeks ago, William changed his request. "Mom, can you sing me a plain church song?" And a few days later, Penny, who has had the same songs in the same order for YEARS, said, "Mom, I don't want Close Your Eyes. I want a plain church song too." All of this amounts to me singing anywhere from four to six hymns or praise songs before our kids go to sleep every night. It has been a totally unexpected blessing in and of itself.
Better yet, William's curiosity and his attention to detail offers me surprising insights. There was the time he said, "I want the one about the guy who was lost" (Amazing Grace), and the time he said, "Where is heaven on a map?" And then, last week, when I was singing Isaiah 40 (Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God...) when he said, "Mom, what lasting mean?"
"It means that God lasts forever. That God has always been there and God will always be there."
He nodded, satisfied.
The next day, I walked to the altar to receive ashes, and as she made the sign of the cross on my forehead, our chaplain said, "Remember that you came from dust, and to dust you will return."
Yes. This is a season for remembering that I will not last forever, at least not in this form, and not without God's miraculous power at work in my life. This is a season for remembering that God himself, in Jesus, did not last forever, but made himself one who comes from dust and goes back to dust, for our sake. And this is a season for remembering that in the midst of all that is temporary and fleeting, God lasts. The Lord is the one who rose from the ashes, the one who promises life everlasting. The one who remains true and faithful and good always and everywhere. The Lord is the everlasting God.
