Drove back home to Roanoke this morning after a short visit with my grandchildren, driving straight into a cloudless deep blue abyss. From Georgia to Alabama, not a cloud in the sky to mar Father Sky’s blue canvas. The sun was bright and hot, shimmering on the trees lining the highway, a beautiful early morning trip. I went up yesterday morning so I could attend my youngest grandson’s band concert. He’s playing my trumpet and I’m reliving my band years through he and his brother’s band experiences. So many, many wonderful memories and friendships from my band years.

William Shakespeare said, “The earth has music for anyone who listens.” Nature has her own soundtrack of music. If you sit quietly outside, you’ll hear the melodies. I love to sit in the swing and listen to nature’s symphonies playing. Every day there’s a new chord. “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth,” Psalm 96:1. A love for music is a gift from God. I think we can say music is the language of God, sometimes more profound than words. Music is powerful and can help us express emotions we don’t have words for. Music can offer solace and comfort. Music can inspire us with its lyrical beauty.

“Accept the Lord in your heart and enjoy the spiritual symphonies of life.” — Peter Kreeft

Pablo Casals said “Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.” Singing is not just a ritual; it’s an expression of deep joy and recognition of God as our Savior. Ephesians 5:19 states, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” When we sing, we express our love for God and strengthen our faith. My favorite hymn, Amazing Grace, never fails to move me to tears. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see ’twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.”

In Christianity we worship with God through music. Music moves us and touches our souls. Bible scripture reads God loves music and he fills the heavens with song. 2 Chronicles 5:13 says, “The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures forever.’”

Music is a universal language that we all can listen to and understand. I can’t imagine life without music. I sang in the church choir for years, starting as a teenager. Think of all the glorious hymns and how they move us and the emotions they emote. Chief and I sang to all three of our children as we rocked them to sleep every night. “Music is only love looking for words,” Lawrence Durrell.

Plato says it best, “Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to everything.” The Earth would be a very quiet place without the harmonies in the music of life.

You can’t always choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we dance to it.” — Kate B. Jackson.