Summer Soundtrack

If I had to journal my summer memories from childhood, my page would spill over with short snippets of sensory delight: the cool shock of lake water on dry skin; the gentle toss of bedroom curtains from a morning summer breeze; the first candied bite of fresh corn on the cob; the soft crunch of sand between my toes; the sticky joy of peach juice running down to my elbow; and the “noisy calm” of crickets at night, lulling me to sleep.

And just as vivid as my memories of the lake or the picnic pavilion are my memories of our kitchen radio. For years, it sat faithfully on the counter, turned to a local Christian radio station from morning to night. It was the sound-track of my childhood, always coloring each memory with Christian songs, children’s stories, Bible verses, and even recorded sermons, broadcast after some of the speakers themselves had gone to heaven. Making chocolate chip cookies at the counter or helping freeze corn at the kitchen table, I became familiar with hymns and Scripture passages.

The years have flown by, and it’s my kitchen now where kids read the directions on the back of the chocolate chips bag and help freeze summer vegetables. And I have to wonder: If my kids had to describe the sound-track of their childhood, would my playlists be a place where they learned to love Christ—or a place where their hearts were desensitized to sin? This summer, I have been convicted to be more intentional about what is playing in the background of my children’s growing up years. There is a great opportunity to impact my kids for Christ just by paying attention to what is playing in the background of their happy childhoods. I want it to be profitable, so that someday they too can look back and realize that they learned more about Jesus—while making cookies, washing dishes, or freezing corn!