When my daughter was little, we often sang the Davy Crockett song. One time we got to the line about how he killed a bar (bear) when he was only three years old.

My little girl looked up at me and asked, “What was he doing in a bar when he was only three?”

“What?” I asked, baffled.

She explained: “It says he was killed in a bar when he was only three!”

I stifled a laugh and explained the REAL lyrics, wondering what she’d been thinking as she sang these odd lyrics over and over for years. It reminded me of a time when I was little in church, singing a hymn about a feast of victory for the Lord. I always thought the congregation was saying, “This is the beast . . .” I never understood it!

Funny stuff, indeed! But how often do we rip through the “lyrics” of an age-old prayer or song without even CONSIDERING the words—the meat—of what we’re saying, promising, or offering as praise to God?

It’s easy to rattle things off without stopping to think about words we’ve recited a thousand times. But when we actually stop and think about what we’re saying, it can be a complete game changer and offer us new and insightful ways to connect with our worship, worship we thought we knew by heart but maybe didn’t after all! 

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord” (Psalm 19:14).