Keep singing in the cellar

by Caroline

The Golden Stairs by Edward Burne-Jones (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

I will sing of thy steadfast love, O LORD, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations.

—Psalm 89:1

These uncertain times we live in feel like when my dad asked me to go down in the basement alone to do chores. It was always a dark descent even when the lights were on …even in the daytime. I’d fight him and pitch a fit..but he’d still ask me to go. My memory plays back the hollow sound of the wooden steps with each click of my shoes on the way down. I can still hear it and feel the fear.

It’s almost as if the Lord has resuscitated this memory to help me remember the faith of a child and how He strengthened me to do what I was asked even though I was afraid.

We need to know how to courageously continue on in our faith even when it appears the bottom is falling our of our country and the Church.

Dad…I can’t go down there.
How will you know if something happens to me?

He would say,

I’ll be right here in the kitchen.

But, I can’t see you.

Yes…but—-

I know where you are.
And if you’d like…you can sing.
When you stop singing, I’ll know something’s wrong.

So. I’d go down the steps…singing all the way and don’t you know, I never tried to test him by stopping. I just trusted he could hear me.

I’d do the laundry, soak the codfish, put the games away…..


Continue reading at Caroline's blog  Bell of the Wanderer.

Like the sound of a great Amen

by Nancy Shuman

Sketch by Francesco Vanni (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons).

"Exult, you just, in the Lord ... sing to Him a new song; pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.."  (Psalm 33:1 & 3)

I read this scripture with a sigh.  Loving to sing, I can't carry a tune in the proverbial bucket. Although I savor the sounds of harpsichords and pianos and cellos and harps, I myself am no plucker of strings.

Even with no musical talent, however, I find singing to be a path into prayer.  I like to pray with psalms, using the words as a springboard to my own conversations with God.  "I will extol you," I read in Psalm 145... and so I do.  I begin to thank Him for His goodness and kindness and mercy (this can go on for some time before I turn again to what I'm reading).  And when I feel pretty sure no one is within hearing distance, I just might burst into song.  Sometimes using a tune I know, sometimes making up my own, I sing to God of His wonders.  I set thanksgivings and praises to music; I may even bring intercession into the song.  It somehow opens my heart to do this, and helps unlock the door to conversation with God.

The psalms are a springboard into prayer for me.  And music, even if I keep my singing "on the inside," is my personal amen. 
 
"I do not know what I was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then,
But I struck one chord of music
Like the sound of a great Amen."  (A. Proctor)


This reflection was originally posted by Nancy Shuman on The Breadbox Letters.  Like our Facebook page to follow both of Nancy's blogs, plus more of our members.