Good Morning, Girl

I was reminded today of a time when I would sing to wake up my girls to wake them up each day. After I’d gotten up and gotten ready for the day, I would go into their rooms singing the same song every morning (well, most mornings). My favorite part of the song went like this:

I see your face everywhere;

I see your smile, and golden hair.

I see your eyes shining through,

Those gentle eyes, silver blue

Good morning, girl,

How you been?

Good morning, girl,

There’s love within.

(Good Morning, Girl—N. Schon, S. Perry)

Of course, the vocals, which I could never duplicate, are a big part of what makes the song so good, and my girls were amazingly gracious about having to wake up to my decidedly non-blessed voice mangling a song that they had heard sung so beautifully by the original artist. Sometimes they would even sing along—maybe in a desperate effort to help me get back on key. Whatever it was, I have to say I look back on those days with a great deal of fondness and nostalgia. Memories like these are bittersweet. Still, I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

When I consider how my girls, both of whom are blessed with a lovely singing voice, were able to receive the message of love in spite of the less than perfect expression that was my singing, I am reminded of Peter’s encouragement that, “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). How often do we overlook a minor (or, in some cases, major) wrong simply because of the relationship we have with the offender? In a sense, we absorb that wrong into ourselves and allow our love to pay the price for the offense of the loved one.

Of course, there are limits to how far we can or should go to “cover” a multitude of wrongs. At some point, covering becomes enabling and destructive. But short of that limit, which is different for each person and each situation, there is place for the kind of covering love demonstrated by my girls and modeled by Christ (Think how many times he refused to react to slights and wrongs from his enemies and his erstwhile friends). Such graciousness smooths rough and rocky roads and eases the difficulties inherent in building any meaningful relationship. Maybe this is why both Peter and Paul give essentially the same instruction about not returning evil for evil (1 Peter 3:9; Romans 12:17), and why Paul encourages believers to do their part to live in peace with everyone (Romans 12:18).

Sometimes living in peace with others means we have to let small annoyances (like someone singing off-key way too enthusiastically) go and do our best to find the good beneath or behind the bad—the heart behind the hurt (Ephesians 4:2). Some days, I confess, this is a hard thing to do, but I know in my own heart how many times God has absorbed my wrong into his love, even though I didn’t deserve such grace. I want to be as kind and gracious to those around me as my own girls, my wife, and my friends, have so often been with me. Right now, though, that nostalgia is pulling at me again. I think I’m gonna go crank up the stereo and sing a while.

(P.S. If you'd like to hear this awesome song, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/sFi0H-dzqRQ)