Come Thou Fount

If any of you have read the Mitford books by Jan Karon, you know about the dog, Barnabus. Barnabus is a unique dog who obeys when his owner recites Scripture. When Barnabus becomes unruly, Father Tim simply quotes the Bible and watches his beloved pooch surrender to his commands.


Well, I bring up the story of this dog because I think we have a little Barnabus on our hands. I do not mean to be cruel in equating my son to a dog, because they really are different. Graham has a much better name (Steve is our dog), he usually smells better, he can actually smile at me now, I love him a whole lot more, and he has a soul! But similar to Barnabus, the spiritual seems to have an effect on his obedience.


A few days ago Graham was in a fussy mood. He was a well fed, clean bottom little boy, but he wasn't acting like it. In some ways I think babies have it made. They are usually fed on command, they never have to clean up after themselves, and they sleep whenever they want! What a life! But on second thought, I have some sympathy for them. How would you like to talk, but you don't have the words to communicate or walk but you don't have the strength to move your legs? If babies have an itch, they can't scratch it. If they need some space, they can't get away. I'm really not sure if I still envy their lifestyle. But back to my point.....Graham wasn't happy. I took him into the den where Jeff was playing the guitar. Graham continued to cry. Then Jeff started playing "Come Thou Fount" and Graham was quickly silenced. Jeff played a couple of hymns and then started playing some John Mayer. Graham started crying again once Jeff switched to John Mayer. All I can say is our son is unbelievably talented. He can distinguish the secular from the sacred! :) When Graham started crying, Jeff quickly searched for chords to more hymns to hush the little baby. He got quiet for a while longer. Eventually, he did start fussing again, but the hymns gave us a brief break from the crying. Do we have a little music minister on our hands? Probably not, but I have got to find a baby toy that plays hymns! Do you think they exist?