Sitting recently in a sanctuary during what is supposed to be a ‘church-wide’ before-Sunday School prayer time, my concentration was suddenly interrupted by sounds from the piano in the choir room. I thought of asking—had anyone else been there—the question posed by a Christmas carol: “Do you hear what I hear?”

Musings began to flow as the hymns being played kept changing, perhaps to ‘practice’ those listed in the bulletin for that morning’s worship....Or was it to serve as ‘warmups’ for the pianist? Or to find one that fit the play-er’s mood....

It did not matter.... All lifted my thoughts and heart toward God. I found myself wondering “What’ll she play next?”...then realizing how like Life the experience was...for there are times of music, of singing, even, followed by...what nexts? And sometimes the ‘next’ is silence, a hush...a time of waiting, or listening for the not-yet-speaking voice of God, the not-yet-clear direction(s) for the next step (or stage) of living. These ‘rests’ are not refusals to make melody, to sing...they are merely pauses.

Sometimes the ‘next’ that we or others hear is an abrupt, unpleasant dissonance, or complete change of key or tempo...a sad largo lasting too long, or unwelcome ‘march’ compelling fresh adjustment, more involved, perhaps more ‘militant’ than before.

And sometimes, almost like birds’ trilling, there are those marvelous little touches called ‘grace notes’ enhancing, but not carrying, not even a part of, the melody.

Ah, just so does God ‘grace’ our lives with moments in which we sense a sudden lifting of our mood, a fresh wind of courage, or strength, or certainty; a whisper of fresh comfort...a quiet assurance of Companionship on the Journey, of Him ‘there,’ that moment, in that place...wherever that may be!

What would we do without His grace, that marvelous, undeserved goodness He showers onto our paths, into our lives! Or without His un-earnable mercy, that wonderfully compassionate forgiveness that never asks us to pay the full price for our sins, faults, failings, missteps...term them as harshly or gently as you will! (I say ‘full price,’ for there is always a measure of ‘price’ we pay for disobedience (lost time, joy, opportunity, etc.).

Grace notes do remind me of a bird’s twittering, that always-joyful sound! That day these musings recalled to mind a sage reflection, read long ago now: “Birds do not sing because they have no sorrows. They sing because they have a song.” My, what a lesson!

Most of us sing when things go well and Life is, as we say, “looking up.” Perhaps that gives a hint of why we do not sing more often, at least if we are Christians: We are supposed to be always looking Up (the direction of the Godward gaze), not waiting for Life to. That remembered realization caused me to remember an earlier time when I had prayed most earnestly the words of a then-popular Gospel song: “Give Me a Song to Sing [not an unusual request, in itself...the catch is coming] at Midnight!” That’s when the imprisoned Paul and Silas—having no idea that God was about to ‘spring’ them from their fetters and filth—sang, we are told in Acts. So could we all, if, like them, we made their choice, daylight or dark, Life’s ‘weather conditions’ notwithstanding.

Thus, once again musing and meditating bring us face to face with another “inconvenient truth”: That our choices, our willingness, determine, not whether we have a song—like birds, we (certainly we Christians) always do—but whether we sing it or not, whether others ever hear it or not...whether we sing or whine; and whether we sing, rain or shine, or grow silent, then self-absorbed, eventually sullen.

Have a good week!