Music

I'm sitting here typing and listening to Andrea Bocelli sing a song in Italian. Why is it that I won't listen to someone speak in Italian, but I love to listen to someone sing in Italian?

Music is like that. It is somehow able to connect with my soul. I've always been one of those persons who experiences intense pleasure listening to others perform. Music also affects my mood. When I'm uptight, it can sooth. When I'm sad, it can cheer. When I'm happy, it seems to be one of the best vehicles for expressing my joy. Martin Luther once said, "My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary."

At present, I'm going through a little music tasting phase. For several weeks now, my family has been watching me with amused interest as I bring home from the library a sampling of various music. I assure them that I'm making many valuable discoveries. For example, I've learned that in opera when a guy gets stabbed in the back, instead of bleeding, he sings.

But much of the music I see in the library, I won't touch. I know that the Lord is concerned about the input that enters my mind. I have a hard enough time trying to put on the mind of Christ without gunking it up with a lot of worldly music.

To take the analogy of tasting food and listening to music a bit further, both food and music provide nourishment. Music which praises God is like a steak and potato dinner. That's the kind of diet you can live on. Some secular music is like potato chips and coke. It's okay in moderation. But most music you hear on the radio is, in my opinion, poisonous. It should be labeled with a warning: Stay away!

And then there's silence... Silence is good.

Parting thought:
"An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger."
-Dan Rather