When Sadie was born the song that was on my heart/in my mind during that season was an old Hymn called "Come Thou Fount." I had recently googled the lyrics to all the verses, printed them out, spent some time meditating on them and worked on memorizing them. I was so thankful to finally have the dream of a second child coming to fruition I wanted a song of praise to sing and this one fit the bill.
Though not intentional at first, I started singing this song while standing or sitting, swaying with Sadie on my shoulder just before laying her in her crib. Within a few months, as soon as those first few words came out of my mouth her head would collapse onto my shoulder and she'd snuggle in for as many verses as I'd sing.
We're at 13 months now of singing that song almost every single night of her life! Chris has learned some of the words and sings it on nights he puts her to bed. Ella has heard it so often she has also learned some of the words and sometimes requests "the bed time song" to be sung to her in her bed too :-)
The funniest thing about this song is that my sweet mother-in-law babysat one night and Sadie was
not thrilled to go to bed for someone else (have I mentioned she's my attached baby? No "Miss Independent" like Ella was. It was
bad for a while around 9-11 months). Anyway, Nancy was trying to do whatever she could to calm Sadie and get her to sleep and Ella told her "you have to sing 'Come Thou Fount!'" Nancy was familiar with the song but not knowing the words to all the verses, she snuggled Sadie in the dark, put up a blanket between herself and Sadie (so she wouldn't be upset by it not being me) and googled the lyrics on her cell phone to sing them to her! And it worked! The image of this is hilarious to me. And so sweet!
I like to think that as God has taught me a lot about praising Him through this song, Sadie is calmed by it not only because it is familiar and has become a tradition, but because there's something sweet, and sspecial, and sacred about those words floating up from a sincere heart and an innocent baby to a Worthy God.
Come Thou Fount
Written by Robert Robinson in 1757, at age 22
1. Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.
2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
3. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
4. O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
