Henry’s Song

Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

—Ephesians 5:18–20

When Henry was born, we brought music into the delivery room, and the song playing just after he was born was “Needle and Thread” by Sleeping at Last. It’s about God and angels and hospitals and love, and in that moment, it became our song, Henry’s song.

A few months later, Aaron and I went to a Sleeping at Last show, and when they played that song, we held hands, and I cried, and thought about our boy, the night he was born, and the rich and miraculous thing it is to be his mother. I wanted to tell the songwriter how deeply his song traveled through the most tender parts of our life.

I didn’t tell him, but if I had, this is what I would have said: Thank you, and keep going. Please keep writing songs. We need the sounds and words and rhythms of hope and longing and beauty. We need the haunting twist of your voice. We need the poetry of your lyrics and the spirit and force of your sounds. We’re desperate for great music, and there’s never, ever enough.