Music and a Can, Too

   I come to this post in an unusual way. I write in the late afternoon instead of the morning. The morning just did not work out as I planned, and I moved through the day without a blog thought in mind. After lunch, we watched the Sunday service from our church since we had missed it the day before.

   Our pastor is preaching a 6 week series with a them of Summer movies, in which he takes a thought from 6 movies and gives a message from the Bible. Yesterday was Les Miserables and the opening clip was his beginning. I love the song from that, I Dreamed A Dream, but could not remember where I had heard it. Then it hit me, it was the song that Susan Boyle sang on the British talent show a few years back.

   It is a powerful song, both the lyrics and the music, and I am moved by each rendition, probably as much by the emotion of the situation as the song itself, but it is good

   As I listened to Susan sing it again, I could not help but wonder of the affect that music has on my feeling. There are certain songs that bless me each time I hear them, and, I'll confess, often bring a tear or two to my eyes. I'm sure that I will miss some good ones, but I compiled a short list in my head and here it is.

   The aforementioned I Dreamed a Dream, and here is a YouTube version:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSrAJsWvEIc

   Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th Symphony:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wod-MudLNPA

   Amazing Grace with bagpipes:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FKoX7u_Jo8

   Stuart Townend's hymn How Deep the Father's Love:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYV7hpD9JTI

   Almost anything by my favorite singer, Sissel, like this:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSy1Do0wwEA&list=TLVgByKunB3xw

   I'm sure, when I finish writing this, I will think of others that deserve to be on my own personal list, but I did think of a photograph that seems to symbolize what this music means to me. Music is like that can, it makes the picture.

 

   OK, I know if you listen to all of this and meditate on the picture, too, you will have killed your day, but it has made mine, because I have gotten to listen to these again, and it has been good.

   Thank You, God for music