Close Your Eyes
So You Can See

By Michael Card

Harvest House
Book: $14.99

ISBN 1565074254

Buy or borrow this book!

Support your local independent bookseller

Compare prices at major online bookstores

Myrrh

CD 7014604600 $13.98
Cassette $10.98

Songwriter pens melodies, stories for children

"The eyes of little children see so much more than grownup eyes see," says Michael Card in his opening letter to moms and dads in Close Your Eyes So You Can See. "Jesus taught us, His grownup followers, that what we need to be is children!"

In that spirit, Card writes ten fictional stories involving children based on Scripture New Testament references. All are told by the child in the story in a trusting, simple, child-like voice, and all are moving. Each story has a introduction that begins, "Close your eyes so you can see . . ."

But master Bible teacher, storyteller, and songwriter Card is writing for more than just the sense of vision. He invites us to "smell the fresh-baked bread in the marketplace. Feel the cool temple stones beneath your feet. . . .Listen as a worried father leaves by the front door."

After reading the beautiful stories, you will want to listen to the Songs about Children in the Life of Jesus in the CD or cassette Close Your Eyes So You Can See. The ten original songs have the same titles as the ten stories, and each captures a pivotal emotion or scene. The accompaniment varies from simple piano on Let the Children Come to dulcimer, guitars, bass, and background vocals on He Sends His Angels. Card also plays the Celtic harp and Irish whistle in what is becoming his trademark sound on When Jesus Was a Boy. The melodies are sharply poetic, some even lilting.

Both stories and songs give evidence to Card's credentials as a student of the Bible, as a crafter of words and music, and as a father (his children are credited on the CD insert for first listening to the songs ). All of us may need to "close our eyes and see."

Close Your Eyes So You Can See