I mentioned last week that I sing my grandchildren to sleep, or did when they were younger. These days it happens only on special occasions and by request.

A contender with “In Moments Like These” is the song I began singing when I was working on a speech from the great blessing chapter of the Old Testament, Psalm 103. I leaned over in church this morning and whispered to my visiting granddaughter Mariah, “That’s the song I’m writing about next week!“

“Bless the Lord, O my Soul,“ it begins, “and all that is within me praise his holy name.“

“He has done great things,“ it continues, “he has done great things, he has done great things, bless his holy name.“

How much like the psalm it is. Surely it was taken from Psalm 103, which begins, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benefits.“

So after I sang the chorus once and before I repeated it, I quietly listed the benefits I could remember from my study:

He forgives all my iniquities.
He heals all my diseases.
He redeems my life from the pit.
He crowns me with loving kindness and compassion.
He satisfies my years with good things!

“Sing it again, Ma,“ said Jake, nine years old at the time, “and be sure and say all those words.“

Yes, say all those words.

I was glad to. They are wonderful words. I wanted my grandchildren to think on them, to remember them, because the wise and grateful habit of “forgetting not his benefits” would make their lives quite good, even if the day should come when some things in their lives are not.