"Mommy, did you know they’re called HIMS because the songs are about Jesus, and He’s a boy?”

We are teaching our daughters hymns. About every month, I sing a few they’ve not learned, and they pick one to work on. Right now we’re just finishing up learning “Heavenly Sunlight.” It got picked because it was June and the amount of sunlight was getting very long.

The first time we went through the book My ABC Bible Verses, I put together an Excel spreadsheet listing out the Bible verses, hymns that either matched the letter or the concept of the verse, plus MIDI files I found on the Internet. If you’d like this file, it is available here. I was able to find hymns for every letter but the letter U. (If anyone has any suggestions, I’m open!)

Hymns are a great way to accomplish several tasks at once:

• They help you teach your children theological concepts. When we sing a new song, I go through it, phrase by phrase, teaching what each line means. It’s given us some great discussion times!
• Hymns can also help teach poetry concepts such as similes or metaphors. One of my older daughter’s favorite hymns is “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” We had a great discussion about whether or not God was an actual fountain spewing forth water or if the writer wanted us to think about the generosity of God in giving His blessings.
• Hymns can help you teach order and purpose of worship. We talked about the Israelites singing songs of ascension as they climbed the hill to the Temple, then singing songs about worshipping God, or making offerings. Our family hymnal is conveniently divided into categories such as Worship: The Father, Worship: Jesus Christ, Salvation, Advent, Christian Warfare, and so on.
• Hymns can help with simple musical training. Learning to sing together, learning to read the words in each verse, learning to sing parts—it’s all there! Our older daughter has begun learning to read music and pick out melodies on the piano. The hymnal gives her something spiritual to focus her thoughts on while she practices. We’ve sung the songs, so she knows the melodies. It gives her great delight to be able to play a song by herself, even if it is with one hand and very haltingly.
• Hymns can provide comfort. Both of our daughters have had scary hospital stays, and each time I’ve packed the hymnal for those late-night fretful child times. One particularly scary time, our younger daughter had suffered severe seizures and became fretful during an EEG. She was still post-dictal (post seizure recovery) and it scared her to not be able to move or talk well. I asked her if she wanted me to sing, and she said yes. I asked her what she wanted me to sing, and she said, “Dezus” (Jesus). We had been working on “Jesus Paid It All,” and she sang along with me the best she could, bringing tears to the eyes of the EEG techs.
• Hymns can also be used to make a point during a stressful or fearful time. My husband’s hobby is as an emergency management storm watcher. When the weather turns bad, he’s at the base running the radios for the men in the fields watching for tornadoes. That leaves me at home with two fearful little girls. One night, we had to go to the basement because a tornado was heading our way. Yes, I was scared, but I had to hold myself together for the two little girls. This was about the same time we were working on “He Keeps Me Singing.” I remember sitting on the shower floor in our in the basement bathroom, singing the lines, “Jesus whispers sweet and low, ‘Fear not, I am with thee. Peace, be still,’ In all of life’s ebb and flow.” I remember telling the girls that Jesus knows we are scared, and that He wants us to find comfort in Him. I reminded them that Jesus told the wind and waves “Peace, be still,” and they obeyed Him. I also told them that sometimes He wants us to have peace and be still, even when the wind is blowing hard. We sat on the floor and sang hymns for almost an hour, until the storm passed. Hymns helped keep the girls’ focus on God, rather than on their fear. Mine too! (Thankfully, no damage from the storm.)

• Hymns can provide great family worship times. Almost every night before bed, we sing a hymn or two with the girls. Usually the one we’re working on and maybe one from before. I find it settles their hearts and calms their actions.

• Hymns fill their little minds with God-centered thinking. Even though I’m not a musician, I am musically oriented. I find there is a tune of some sort running through my head all the time. We call it “Radio Anni.” Well, it seems my older daughter is the same way, getting tunes stuck in her head. Sometimes they are helpful and edifying, and some times they are Silly Songs with Larry. Singing hymns helps replace silly or annoying songs with something restful and peaceful.
• Hymns provide a great way to study the biography of several great people. A while back, I found a children’s tape about Fanny Crosby. My daughters listened to it a few times, and then we went on a hunt to find songs by Fanny Crosby. We’ve looked up the favorite hymns of different missionaries. We’ve briefly studied Martin Luther, Isaac Watts, and the Wesleys. Our older daughter has sat in “adult worship” with us a few times and has been thrilled to know some of the songs that we sing. It makes her feel like she is really participating.
• Hymns can be a great way to bless others. My mother lives several states away for half of the year and two hours away for the other half of the year. (She’s a snowbird.) Of course, we talk on the phone frequently. But it’s always a blessing to my mother when the girls sing their latest hymn over the phone.
• Hymns are a wonderful way to drift off to sleep. When our younger daughter was in the NICU, one of the nurses played a CD to help calm her. It was hymns done entirely on the harp. I don’t know how much it calmed our baby, but it certainly calmed us during that very stressful time! I since found the group that did the CD, and I highly recommend them! They are Harps of Praise, a musical homeschooling family that even makes the harps they play. You can listen to some of their lovely music at www.harpsofpraisehf.com. Our girls now have one of their CDs that they listen to as they are going to sleep. And sometimes, after the girls are asleep, I “borrow” their CD and drift off to sleep myself, meditating on the truth of God’s word in song.

It is my delight to hear my older daughter in the bathtub singing hymns to herself. Or outside singing to God at the top of her lungs. I love listening to my younger daughter singing hymns to her baby dolls to put them to sleep. Does she remember all the nights I sat by her crib singing? I don’t know, but I’m going to keep singing hymns to them both.

Challenge: Fill your child’s mind with more than just Sunday School choruses. Not that there is anything wrong with simple choruses, but children can benefit greatly from the “meat” of the song world. Start with simple hymns that praise God for His works of creation like “O Worship the King” or “I Sing the Mighty Power of God.” Christmas is a great time to teach hymns to children as well. Question the music your children listen to. Is it “fluff?” Or is it music with substance, both in content and in composition? Children are capable of so much. Give them musical meat and feed their hearts.

Copyright © 2008 by Anni Welborne Share