Each morning when I was a child, my mother awakened me and my brother, then my sisters across the hall, with a song of cheer about the sun coming up. I think she invented it—the notes, the lyrics—or maybe it was one from long ago her mother sang to her, but it was a catchy tune and always got us moving. She did this almost every morning. She sang the song with such persistence, such repetition, with such a sense of new discovery, that in some very real way it emblazoned a certain brightness on my soul, on my spirit, from an early age. Genetically, I think I am optimistic by nature, but if a parent is also nurturing a sunny outlook in their child with a cheerful tune about the dawn each day, it certainly can’t hurt.
I can’t sing as well as my mother so I didn’t carry on this tradition, but I did something sort of similar with my kids. Whenever I dropped them off at school, beginning in kindergarten until they could drive themselves, just as they stepped from the car I called them by name and offered these three words in an encouraging and upbeat way: “Hank, Charlie—do your best,” I’d say. While not as lovely as my mother’s song and done in a more hurried moment when it was likely my kids’ minds were occupied by other thoughts, I still think they absorbed the words, if for no other reason than they heard them over and over again. In a similar way even now, my wife, when she talks to the grown-up versions of Hank and Charlie over the phone, concludes every conversation with the words “I love you.” The repetition is a part of the message—a kind of backing soundtrack for their days.
Our church has an ongoing program for parents in which we’re walking together through social scientist Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation. In a chapter about Spiritual Elevation, he writes—and he acknowledges this isn’t rocket science—that continually focusing our minds on that which is good and virtuous tends to carry us upward in mood and bearing, elevating our sense of well-being and our outlook on life.
The apostle Paul, though not similarly degreed as a social scientist, seemed to be driving the same point home in his letter to the Philippians:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9, NIV)
Making a habit of thinking virtuous thoughts has a way—as obvious as it is mystical—of bringing a sense of well-being into our lives. Paul calls it the peace of God.
Hearing uplifting words, receiving elevating encouragement from one another is a vital thing. Hearing such things repetitively, hearing them daily, is difference-making. If we hear them so frequently that they might be considered a constant, kind of background music in our minds, they impact our spirits in a durable, perhaps everlasting way.
If our attention is the most valuable thing we have, and we have agency to give it to what we want, it makes sense to surround ourselves with that which uplifts us. This is backed up by the social science, God’s Word, and our own experience. Keep what’s noble in front of you. Seek out what’s pure and lovely in the world. Actively look for what’s admirable and just admire it for a while. Excellence—doing your best—pursue it always. Meditate on that which is praiseworthy. These are all things we should, in a very intentional way, take time to think about on a daily, perhaps hourly basis, finding ways to awaken to them and to fall asleep to them. We should impress them upon our hearts with purpose as a kind of soundtrack for our lives because when we do, the peace of God, we’re promised, will come cascading down upon us. And of course, it always helps to have a catchy tune.*
God—Help me to think on these things. Amen.
*My friends, Mark Jones and Brook Ballard, have once again helped me out here with a Spotify playlist, some background music for your week. Listen Here.
