Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wednesday Words...Make a joyful noise!

She doesn't look very joyful, but she was over
joyed when her hat won her Craziest Hat for
the Cubbies class! 

It is nearly 8 o’clock  - PM – and I am just getting to write…oh Wednesday how you overflow with life! It feels as if every Wednesday this semester has been rainy and that the baby has been sick. I am sure it hasn’t been like that every Wednesday, it just feels like it. It is an improvement over last year – every Wednesday was windy. Not like breezy, but hurricane, gale force winds – on trash day! What a mess! So I can be happy with rain, and we will work to have the boy well, quickly!
Which brings me back to Wednesday…

I have always wished I had a talent that I could carry with me. People who draw can draw anywhere and on anything. People who dance can dance anywhere. People who can sing can sing anywhere. The gifts I do have, which are few, involve loads of equipment and tools.  What a gift to be able to share your gift wherever and whenever!

Even though I can’t sing, I like to sing…when I am by myself. I don’t sing well for many reasons. I have no rhythm despite 3 years of high school percussion. The concept of music notes is very abstract to me.  But I enjoy others singing. I enjoy music. I enjoy lyrics. I enjoy the way music makes me feel, even when it makes me feel sad. I love that music can provoke emotion. I love the universality of music.

Have you ever heard a song you love sung in another language? While visiting family in Branson, Missouri I heard a man sing How Great Thou Art in Hawaiian. Even though I didn’t understand the words, it was beautiful and moving – powerful.  

The youth group that I belonged to in high school did a lot of musical performance, even traveling regionally to other areas to share God’s word in song.  Several of the songs, they sang (I didn’t sing!) were in other languages, some tribal African languages, some sign language.  No matter the language people were always eager to join in.

Singing about God forces you to think about God: whether it is a song of praise or thanksgiving, a song telling the others of His glory, or a song of sorrow for our sins. Singing about God focuses our thoughts and energy on Him. Singing is a beautiful way to share God’s word and God’s love with others. It is a beautiful way to unite to worship Him. It is great when there are musicians and instruments, but even one voice singing God’s praise, sharing God’s word, is a blessing.

So whatever song is in your heart...sing it!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wrong Words Wednesday


I love music. I love the stories that songs tell. I love the emotions that you can feel in the rhythms. One of the few times I really get to enjoy music is when I drive alone in my car, which is rarely. When I do I get to really listen and mull the words over.  

And I am funny about songs, if the lyrics aren’t up to my high standards it is over… (because I am such a high brow music connoisseur!) There is a song that has a lyric “ Like a bird, I be.”  It makes me crazy…I turn the song off, click!

But other songs fill my heart…and that is what Wrong Words Wednesday is about.

I have a friend who goes to a church in Richmond and she just loves the music. She had never heard Bonnie Raitt’s* “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About” before and they played it once and she could not stop signing it and had NO IDEA it was not a praise song!  Of course some of the words had been changed. 

How many other songs are like this? How many songs did the recording artist intend one thing and yet we hear another? (Or I am I the only person who does this?)

Maybe I should call it Right Words Wednesday…because to me these songs are so much more when I think of them as songs to praise God!

Just one of my many
 blessing that I praise God for!
This week the song I want to share is a Diamond Rio song – Love a Little Deeper.

The words that resonate with me are:
Love a little stronger
Dig a little deeper,
Go a little farther
Anything to please you girl,
Tonight I'm gonna start all over
Show you girl what's in my heart,
Ooooooh gonna love a little stronger

That is how I feel about God…That is what I want to sing to Him!

Love a little stronger
Dig a little deeper,
Go a little further
Anything to please you Lord!
Tonight I’m gonna start all over
Show you God, what’s in my heart
Ooooooh gonna love a little stronger!

I shared this with my husband and we talked about it…and it brought to mind a song from Godspell, Day by Day.

Day by day
Oh Dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day 

This is what I want…How simple does it sound, but how hard it is to attain? This is where I am today…

What songs inspire you? What songs have wrong words? What do you sing in your heart? I would love to hear about it….


* By the way I learned that this song was actually first recorded by Anne Murray!