This time of the year (for the last few years) has been a time that causes me to pause and try to grasps the beauty and ugly that seems to co-exsist in our world. Maybe it's the springtime that symbolizes a new start or the fact that from Feb to May we have about 10 birthdays, mother's day, one of our child's gotcha day, end of school year, dance recitals, and the lists go one of events that occur which cause me to want a break to pause and think.
In our house it is not uncommon to hear songs playing, my husband or I singing, or even the kids singing. My oldest daughter loves to sing. She will sing about her day, she makes up songs all time and even will sing her prayers from time to time. Due to our love of signing we recently watched the animation movie SING. Of course it was a hit and we have had the sound track on non stop.
One of our favorites from the sound track is an original Stevie Wonder song, Don't You Worry About a Thing. Here's the chorus
Don't you worry 'bout a thing
Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama
Cause I'll be standing on the side
When you check it out...Yeah
When you get it off...your trip
Don't you worry 'bout a thing...Yeah
Don't you worry 'bout a thing…Yeah
Call me crazy or just a lack of sleep but one night while singing this to my daughter, who can struggle at night time and with her sleep, I felt as though God was saying these words to me. I didn't quite understand exactly until this weekend what this really meant to me. We traveled back home to celebrate a family friend who is graduating high school. In this short trip home I got to see several people I hadn't seen a while, I had to deal with some "drama" going on here, and also my dad's aunt and uncle were in a terrible wreck. Through out the weekend this song kept coming to mind and here is what I heard.
Don't' worry about a thing because God is God
Don't worry about a thing because God provided me a tribe to do life along side of
Don't worry about a thing because no matter what's going on in the world God ultimately wins in the end
On our way home my kids crashed hard in the car and I was telling my husband about this and another favorite from the sound track came to mind as well, I'm Still Standing (originally by Elton John). To be truthful I don't know all the lyrics but we sing this part at the top of our lungs in the house maybe just as much as the above song….I. still standing, yeah yeah yeah….I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
Truth is that I am still standing in big part due to the people God put in my life. A few weeks ago my son saw this picture of me.
He said "mommy look how strong you are and look what you can do." For a second I was like "yes you are so right look at me" but then has he gently does, God reminded me, you are strong because of people in your life. You are physically strong because you have a friend who has invested in you, who loves you enough to push you and to listen to your struggles. You are emotionally strong because of your group of friends who invest in you and love you enough to push you and listen to you. You are strong in life because of family who loves you and pushes you. You are Still Standing yeah yeah yeah because when you feel like you can't these people stand for you!
All this to say my friends, is take some time to thank God for the people He has given you to do life with and if you feel alone pray God will show you what you can do to change this or that He will bring someone to you. He is clear, He does not want us to do this life alone. It can be hard, scary, mean, ugly, rude and sad but God promises to be with us in those moments and I am convinced one of the biggest ways He is with us in those moments is by using his people. If you are not doing this for others people, figure out why and start. I promise you this, with God in the middle of your friendships (we call them our tribe) you "don't have to worry about a thing because you're still standing yeah, yeah, yeah."
