Sing Your Song

Thank you whoever first posted this photo last weekend:)

I have played music for as long as I can remember.  I began taking lessons as a four-year-old. I began as a solo instrumentalist but my favorite thing, by far is to play WITH other people.  I've played in ensembles, quartets, as a duet, in symphonies and orchestras, in worship bands, in instrumental bands...and NOTHING compares to that feeling of playing a note that fits so perfectly with another.

Classical music if fantastic and reaches a different part of my soul than other music. Fiddle music reminds me of my grandaddy.  Folk music brings me back to college coffee shops and gigs.  Hymns take me back to our small churches as a child, as I played side-by-side with my siblings and parents as we led the congregation together.  Songs played for funerals and weddings carry their own weight and music played to words that sing about our God and who He is...NOTHING compares.

But you know what?  I've always wanted to be able to sing.  Like REALLY sing.  

Now, I can carry a tune...and it'll for sure be IN tune, but it just doesn't come out like when my friend Patience Leino (or so many of the other vocalists I have had to privilege to play music with/for) who quite honestly sounds like I imagine an angel sounding.  I struggle to remember lyrics without a prompt and my voice gets shaky and unsteady, and I've heard those things are kind of important, ha!

Still, I can hardly contain myself.  I feel like it might explode through my chest at times as I get so caught up in the words of the song and try to wrap my mind around their reality and what they mean that I simply can't NOT sing.  I often have to remind myself that I need to "come back in in about three more beats" or that I am going to need to bring it back down in order to keep that consistent rhythm or steady bow hand.  

It's not that I'm not allowed to actually sing, but there is a reason I don't have a microphone.  Because that's not my thing.  It's not the song God gave me to sing.  My song is made on a violin.  I sing my notes through a melody of tones strung together.  My personal song complements the lyrical song and all the other pieces that fit together to make it complete. Individually we all sound just fine, but when you bring us all together there is no denying its purpose.

Nearly every time I am playing I am reminded of the gift that it really is.  To be able to have a way to express my heart to the Lord, even though I can't sing my worship the way I want to, is a true blessing which I am immensely grateful for.

Josh just reminded me of this breathtaking message that Louie Giglio has about the different parts of creation and how they all fit together to make a beautiful cacophony of sound in worship of our great God.  They aren't even trying for it, they are just doing what God created them to do!

If I sat on the sidelines simply because I can't sing the way I wish I could, not only would I be missing out on this avenue God has given me to jump on board with His mission, but my part, my notes, my song and my worship would be missing.  The body of musicians would be affected as a whole.

Maybe you are reading this and wondering what in the world I'm even talking about.  Your song has nothing to do with notes at all.  You are an engineer, a teacher, a smart computer person (there are so many of you out there, and THAT is for SURE not me!), doctor, builder, landscaper...you name it.  That is your song.

Or maybe you care deeply for children, or the marginalized, or the homeless, or strong families.  You pour into those things with all your heart.  

That is your song.

I have other avenues of singing as well.  Being an intentional mother and wife, teaching my kids, shaping hearts, encouraging friends, feeling deeply, listening without judgement, crying with those who cry, fighting for lots of white space in order to fill it with the multiple interruptions God brings my way...these are all some of the songs I feel like God has given me to sing.

What is YOUR song?  What notes do you bring to the cacophony of sound that reaches far above the heavens that shouts how great God is, even when our world is crumbling around us?

It doesn't have to be glamorous. 

Most of the time it's not. 

In fact, many times you'll get dirty as you sing it.  

But embrace it for what it is.

We've all got a song to sing for Him.

Just find your song and sing it!