The van turned the last corner before home and a little child, limp with sleep, bonked her head on the window as centrifugal force over-powered her body.  My three-year-old granddaughter woke up crying, partly from the window/head contact, partly because her boots had been on the wrong feet for most of the morning and it was beginning to take a toll on her small body.

Some of my kids have been living with me for the past month and a half while making the home they just bought livable.    This has been an opportunity for Wally and I to get close to their little ones, actually four little ones. On this day, my son was carrying the crying one in from the car, explaining to me what happened on the “last turn,” and she reached out to me for comfort.  I took her in my arms and held her on my lap, soothing her and comforting her. She began to settle and we talked about what happened, sentences in her own special lingo making sense to me, because I understand her words after having lived under the same roof for a while now. Finally the clincher, “…And my feet hurt so now I can’t sing my song.” It took me a minute to digest this information.  The saying, “Out of the mouths of babes…” came into my mind and I started thinking about her song. I started thinking about my song.

As the next day went by this kept coming into my head–what is her song? This little girl truly marches to her own drummer. She is also very driven, and goes to great lengths to accomplish what she sets out to do, constantly moving aside obstacles that could stand in her way.  Sometimes in a young family of four children it can be difficult to make your voice heard, but she manages just fine, and if you are not listening to her narrate her life to you, which she does, you may regret not paying attention as closely as you should have, because no telling what you will find her doing. You may also miss some little gems that she drops as she describes the world as she sees it, making sense of what is happening around her.

So, what is my song? What drives me? What do I do to create joy and learning and peace in my life and in the lives of others?

What is your song?