Sing LOUD

My three-year-old loves to sing.

I love that he loves to sing. Sometimes he sings real songs and sometimes he makes up his own (my daughter does this, too). But he sings in such a way that there's no denying to anyone around that he loves it. Because he's LOUD.

Walking through a store, he's nestled in the basket, stacking up cans and boxes to see how high they can go before falling over. And he's belting out "Shout Hallelujah!" or "Jesus Loves Me." Or something else.

I shouldn't be embarrassed. And most of the time the people we pass in the aisles or at the cash register simply smile at us, or share a story of when their children were that small. But every now and then someone will cast a sideways glance or frown or act annoyed.

And then, it's hard to not cringe or try to shush him at least a little.

But why? Why shouldn't he be allowed to sing whatever he wants (within reason--I'm beyond tired of the Christmas songs right now)? And why is it such a bad thing to let him belt out a song about Jesus in the middle of the grocery store?

It's not. It's a reminder to myself that this is one of the reasons Jesus told us to be like the children. They have no sense of embarrassment at what they're singing. Mommy told him Jesus loves him, so it must be true. Why not sing about it?

As grown-ups, we're less prone to show that faith to the rest of the world, more worried about what their reactions to us and our beliefs are going to be. And that's not the way we're supposed to be acting. After all, Jesus said for us to be like "a light on a hill." Instead of hiding mine under a basket, maybe I should join my son next time.

What about you? Do you sometimes cringe when your children do something instead of realizing they're only acting more like the way we should?