singing your heart out

For those of you who know me, you know the value of music in my life. This value was something my parents instilled in me, as well as my brothers from an early age. They cultivated our musical talents the best they could and as much as they could afford. Now the four of us are doing the same with our own kids. It is amazing to see the musical talent in my nieces and nephews (and my kids, too, of course!)

This morning, my daughter had a program at her school for all the grandparents. It was full of music! It was obvious that it brought joy to the whole event. I am so grateful for the music education for my child.

Today's gift of survival: the joy that music brings to life. I could go into all the reasons why music is so important (because there are LOTS), but I'll just stick with the most important one: music is an incredible and emotional way to worship God.

Some may say that they don't have any musical talent, or they can't sing on key. That's okay. Worship is not about talent or even staying on key. It is about our heart.

There is a man at our church who we sit in front of sometimes and this man sings with all his heart. Now our worship leaders play quite loud (perhaps so we are not self-conscious when we sing out) but this man sings louder! And he doesn't always stay in tune. And he sometimes adds parts that don't really fit or tries to harmonize. I know this is irritating to some (sometimes I choose not to sit in front of him, because I know I won't be able to concentrate because some mornings when I haven't had enough coffee I am easily distracted and some mornings when I have had too much coffee I am easily distracted...) but who am I to tell this man to tone down his worship of the Lord? It's between him and God, not him and me. He truly is singing with all his heart and that's what worship is all about!

Listening to the little ones sing this morning was not about hearing how talented they are (however, I tend to be biased and think our school's music program is phenomenal). It was about the joy pouring out of these kids as they sang their hearts out! And I, for one, loved it.

KC