Of silver pants and superheroes

I spend a lot my day with a little boy who spends a lot his time
acting out what the Lord has worked into him: He is an adventurer,
intense, curious, physical, happiest in the thick of things, and
shirtless (to better display both his muscles and scratches obtained
while wrestling tigers).  He hasn’t had a whole lot of exposure to
meeting conformational expectations, and has not been shamed or put
down for his expressions. It brings me a lot of joy to watch him live.
Lately, his exuberance has been expressed by punctuating all sorts of
daily moments with snippets of soundtrack and sound effects.
Entrances, exits, play time, galloping up and down stairs- all have a
bit of score attached. It’s marvelous- and I really do sit and marvel
at it.

I went out shopping last night and had an odd experience. I didn’t
really realize what happened until later. Being silly, I tried on a
pair of very tight, very shiny, silver pants. Then a fairly miraculous
thing happened: I exited the dressing room, with the pants on, and a
grin on my face. I didn’t realize it at the time, but in that instant,
I forgot to be scared, or ashamed, I wasn’t worried about my job,
finances, hopes deferred, expectations, insecurities, the opinions of
others or the way my backside was being emphasized. I think I may
have, unconsciously, hummed a few bars of soundtrack as I exited the
dressing room to model for my friend. It was rare moment, I was having
unencumbered fun!

I didn’t buy the pants (they really just didn’t match my cape), but I
treasure the experience, and hope to recapture more moments of freedom
like that in the future. I was reminded of the verses in Zephaniah 3
(a mash up of translations),

        The Lord your God is in your midst,
        A victorious warrior.
        He will take great delight in you,
        he will quiet you with his love,
        he will rejoice over you with singing/with shouts of joy.

These verses suggest the Lord is joyfully singing His soundtrack over
me. The little three year old man, in living his life as he does,
might have it exactly right- an unseen reality more tangible to him,
and living as a believer (in some ways literally demonstrating those
verses) more faithfully than I.

How desperately I need to be quieted by the love of the Lord!
One of the best things we can do for our men is to listen to the right
soundtrack of our lives, to hear the Lord’s sound effects, and let His
score drown out anything else.  Then we can joyfully sing along with
the Lord over the lives of our husbands and sons!

        Crown him with many crowns,
        the Lamb upon his throne,
        Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
        all music but its own.
        Awake, my soul, and sing
        of him who died for thee,
        and hail him as thy matchless King
        through all eternity.