I’m so grateful for all the saints…
Category: Friday Favorite
Friday Favorite: Psalms for Young Children
This Friday Favorite came to me courtesy of Micha Boyett, otherwise known as mama:monk. I’ve been following a few new blogs recently, Micha’s among them. While I’m not the mother of a young child, I have large number of friends and a smaller number of directees who are, and I’m always on the lookout for resources to help them in their journeys with God.
Micha introduced me to this gem of a children’s book, Psalms for Young Children, and I was enraptured. Not only have a shared it with friends with littles, I’ve been using these short yet complex distillations of the psalms for myself and in my practice.
Unlike a lot of children’s versions of the psalms, Psalms for Young Children doesn’t shy away from the difficult or dark musings of David. There’s even a version of Psalm 88, that famously
unresolved psalm that leaves us sitting in the dirt and the dark, without hope of redemption.
I’m a big fan of praying the psalms (although I will admit to not doing it as often as I’d like). As I’ve found myself in a season of grief, the psalms have been a natural prayerbook, carrying me
Psalms for Young Childrenmakes that even simpler, and yet more profound. Each psalm is condensed into a few lines, and the image beside itrendered in vibrant, crayon-like color. As I read through the pages, I find that I’m given permission to be child-like in my need. I can be scared, worried, sad, happy, tired or joyous without needing to plumb the depths of my emotions to sense their meaning or the underlying movements of my heart. While I think that discernment valuable, not every soul season gives rise to that kind of introspection. Psalms for Young Children gives readers permission to just be—something that every child (and every adult) needs more of.when I am too heart-tired to walk on my own two legs to the house of God.