That Stuff That Spills Out of Our Lips
Ray and I spent the weekend hanging out with homeschoolers at the Great Homeschool Convention in St. Charles, Missouri. As always, it was a joy to see those of you who stopped by and encouraged us.
As we drove north on Wednesday, we listened to Rhythms and Rhymes, the CD of songs, poems, and folk dances that goes along with Our Star-Spangled Story. Except for the music for the Jitterbug, which we obtained from another source, eighteen homeschooled children, homeschool graduates, and homeschool parents performed the entire CD, including all the music. You can hear a little bit of it here. All weekend the beautiful Iroquois lullaby, “Ho, Ho, Watanay” rang in my ears and spilled out of my lips. I am so excited about homeschooled children having the opportunity to walk through American history with the songs and dances of our ancestors.
Before setting up the booth with our son John on Thursday afternoon, we carefully went through the galley proofs of Our Star-Spangled Story in our hotel room.
One of my responsibilities is signing the agreement with our printer, saying you can print them exactly like this. I always do it with trepidation, hoping that we haven’t missed any jots or tittles (If you haven’t thought of a jot or tittle in a while, see Matthew 5:18 in the King James version of the Bible. New American Standard says smallest letter or stroke).
One morning at the hotel, Ray and I were having one of those friendly conversations in which we just weren’t connecting. He could tell I simply wasn’t getting what he was saying. He stopped and said, “I was just bloviating.”
“Bloviating?” I wondered. “I’ve never heard that word in my life!”
“Warren G. Harding used to use that word,” Ray said.
“I doubt there is anyone else in this hotel this morning who mentions Warren G. Harding,” I said.
I was smiling as I continued getting ready for the day, joyful that I am married to such a brilliant and interesting guy with a fascinating vocabulary (by the way, according to Merriam Webster, to bloviate is to speak or write verbosely and windily).
Words like bloviating and facts like what President Warren G. Harding used to say spill out of Ray. After listening to the Rhythms and Rhymes CD in the car on Wednesday, an Iroquois lullaby is spilling out of me.
As we all know, what goes in us is what comes out of us. Jesus said:
. . . the things that proceed out of the mouth
come from the heart . . .
Matthew 15:18
You have a wonderful opportunity with your children. You can fill their hearts with many good things. As my school teacher taught us to pray many decades ago:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14