Thankful – Day Thirteen

Today I’m thankful for music. I love, adore, cherish, treasure, esteem, etc., music. I love to listen to all types of music – classical, rock, alternative, Christian, blue grass, jazz, gospel, country – to name a few. I also love to sing and/or play my piano, albeit for my ears only. Music makes long road trips worth every minute. It also makes housework easier. It can soothe me or pump me up.

Sometimes it’s the melody. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata is so beyond beautiful to me that it makes me cry. Even when I play the first movement on the piano I’m sometimes moved to tears. Of course, that might be more because of my playing and my cursed short fingers. But you get the idea. There are some pieces of music that are as breathtaking as the most beautiful sunset.

Sometimes it’s the crazy, wonderful beat. House work is so much more bearable when I can bop around (with no one to watch) and it just makes the time fly by.

Sometimes it’s the songs that are fun to sing. Katie and I always have a great time when we plug in the iPod and sing along as we’re driving around – the longer the trip the better!

And sometimes it’s the meaning behind the words. For me personally (and I know a lot of others are the same way) singing is the greatest form of worship. I can feel far from God one minute and then feel his presence acutely in the next minute as I sing praises to Him. I have my mornings when I pick up my Bible or try to pray and feel absolutely nothing. When that happens I stop what I’m doing and sing. Maybe it’s an old hymn or maybe it’s a new worship song – it doesn’t really make any difference. Then all of a sudden my heart starts to melt and I am no longer an automaton just doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I am engaged and enthralled and I’m not just reading some book. I’m reading a love letter written to me. (Okay. I give. So sometimes I’m reading something really heinous and violent with not a lot of love, but it’s still a really great book and God’s fingerprints are all over it.) Or if I’m praying I’m no longer just talking to the air. I’m chatting with the creator of the universe. THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE!

It would be great if I could sing like Idina Menzel or play the piano like Liberace, but I can’t and I’m okay with it. The enjoyment these centuries of gifted musicians provide to me is priceless. And I’m so thankful that something as simple as a pleasant tune can turn my day around. I’m thankful that I grew up in a home where music was appreciated and sometimes even revered and that legacy, if you will, has been passed down.

An on that note (pun intended), I think I’ll go play my piano now.