How can I Keep from Singing:

I love singing.  I have always loved singing and being a part of a choir.  I was in a choir all in school, and then I joined a choir in college.  I am so happy I decided to be a part of a choir in college where I was able to do a lot of fun concerts and even went to Germany for a small tour.  I didn’t get the chance to sing the last few years, and I didn’t realize how much that really hurt my heart.  I missed singing on a regular basis, yes, but I also just missed the opportunity to be in a community with others who also enjoy singing and making music together.  

This past Monday was finally the chance where I could join the local chorale choir.  I was finally given the chance to sing in a group for the first time in years, (minus of course, worship time at church.) I was filled with joy.  I am so excited to be able to listen to choir music and spend time with that group. I know there were times where I was a bit rusty with the notes, and the sight reading was not at its best, and I did not have the breath support for some of the longer notes like I once had, but I know I will gain that back in time.  I am just happy with the opportunity to sing and to learn the skills again.  I couldn’t wait to tell most people about how my first rehearsal went, and I am already looking forward to the next one.  

There were many takeaways I got from this experience of singing in a choir.  In this instance of great joy, I was able to reflect on key pieces of this choir experience.  I just had to write about this journey back to choir with everyone. The first reflection that I had is to remember that one needs to include a youth filled love for the things of this world.  Then the second is that we can always remember to praise God with the hobbies that we are involved in.  

The first takeaway I have from this experience is to remember to get involved in the things that we have loved in our younger life.  Our youth is often filled with being involved in community and being able to try sports, music clubs, and experiences, but then many people lose the ability to do those hobbies once we get a bit older.  I have definitely realized through this experience that it is important to get involved in this choir because it was something that I enjoyed a lot as a child and I needed to have some of that child-like joy in this hobby back in my life.  Adults can definitely try something new, but I often hear stories about something that someone once loved and then they lost the time for it and now it is just a distant memory of a hobby they did in the past.  

The second main takeaway was the reminder to focus on God’s goodness while singing.  In this particular semester, the community choir is getting ready for the Christmas concert, so there were Christian themes in a lot of the songs that we were singing.   It was a good reminder that God wants us to sing words and praises to him.  Psalm 105:1-2 says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!” The Lord loves to hear his people sing.  One of the pictures we get of the future of heaven is God’s people singing praises to him.  Isn’t it great when we can also have some of that vision on earth in the present.  

One of my favorite choir songs is, “How can I keep from singing?”  I have sung it a handful of times for many different choirs.  This made me realize that God has made the world and loves us and our story should really make us want to keep singing.  How can I keep from singing?  How can I not sing God’s praises?  I have said many times that I am not the best at listening to praise music or spending time in worshiping God, but I do think it is important that one who is a Christian, spend time in worshiping our holy God on a regular basis.

I realized that God has blessed us in a lot of different ways.  He has even blessed us with hobbies and activities that make us enjoy the world.  We have the opportunity to exercise outdoors, craft and be creative, write down our words and thoughts, and even sing or play music.  We don’t just work and then go home, but we have opportunities to express ourselves and give our passions to him.  I need to remember that now I need to use this time in a choir for God.  

I have two different challenges for you this week.  The first one is to spend time in praise to God.  I know that everyone isn’t a musician and isn’t interested in singing, but I know that we can all find ways to praise God and give him holy praise.  The second one is to think about something that you could do to praise God and to show him love with the hobbies in this world.  There are many ways to praise God and my goal for you this week is to find that thing, it could maybe be an old hobby that can bring praise to God.