Three Little Birds

When my youngest was just a few months old, I heard a song on Nickelodeon’s Noggin channel.  For those of you who don’t know, this is a channel geared towards preschoolers that doesn’t use commercials, but rather clips of children playing, learning games, and music segments.  This particular music segment, “Three Little Birds” sung by Bob Marley, and the video that went along with it, warmed my heart and inspired me to sing it to my little one.  And so it began, every night at bedtime as I held little Clay in my arms and rocked him while he drank his bottle, I would sing the words of the song, hoping that he was carefully listening to and following the message: “Don’t worry about a thing, ‘cause every little thing gonna be alright.”

It’s a funny thing what we as parents do for our children, the wisdom and values we try to instill within their little minds, when we ourselves often forget to heed our own advice.  I was telling my son not to worry, but to just relax, have peace, and trust that everything will be fine.  What a hypocrite I am!  Sure, everyone worries at least sometimes.  It is a part of living a fulfilling life.  We worry because we deeply care about something.  But then there are those of us who worry all the time, usually about trivial things that really aren’t worth worrying about.  Here, I raise my hand.  I can’t tell you how many times I have been worried about something just to have my husband give me the simplest of resolutions when I voice my concern.  As I venture through my days trying to be the best wife, mother, daughter, and friend I can be, it is so easy for me to get caught up in the little things that are irrelevant to anything valuable in life.  Eventually the worries build upon each other and change the focus from the simple beauty of life and the blessings I have been given to all the things which are or could be going wrong.

And then I hear this song again.  I hear the words telling me not to worry.  They tell me to wake up and smile because the sun is shining.  They tell me to listen to the birds, their beautiful songs, because they are giving me a message, a message that says to rejoice in this day and have a song in my heart.  I am reminded of the perfect, sweet, utterly content little face of my baby boy, looking up at me as I sing to him the words that I myself so desperately need to practice. 

My son is now three-and-a-half years old and still loves hearing this song when it comes on.  It’s as though he remembers those days in the rocking chair.  He even learned the words at one point and would sing it himself.  I hope that this song carries with him and when things get hard, he will remember not to worry because it’s all going to be alright. 

The next time you wake up and are rushing through your morning, take a moment to stop and listen to the birds, hear the beauty in their song, and watch how completely carefree and happy they are.  Then remind yourself, “Don’t worry about a thing, ‘cause every little thing gonna be alright.”