Live Your Song

Have you ever had feelings about one of life’s deeper truths that you can’t quite verbalize? Or maybe that unspoken thought that seems to connect? Or simply ideas about life that seem disconnected? And then you read something, or ever hear something that just clicks - communicating that idea perfectly?

I recently had one of those moments. I was watching a TED talk by Jon Foreman. TED is an online format of short videos of people speaking on different subjects to stimulate conversation and learning. Jon Foreman is the singer and songwriter for the band Switchfoot.

The talk was entitled “Live your Song” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w5Q4pDSwUE). In it Jon captured what some have called the idea of the Larger Story of the Gospel. That is the idea of each of the smaller stories of our lives connect into God’s Larger Story of the Gospel in a seamless and eternal way.

Here is what Jon said:

“There is a song inside of you. An anthem in your chest. Your heart is keeping time. Your thoughts, your words, your actions, they sing with a cadence that’s all your own. Every morning when you get up, your song is burning to come into being against the backdrop of the symphony of our time. The stars are singing, the moon dancing across the sky. The tide, like a metronome, rising and falling. There is a human chorus, all of us people down here, adding things like coffee shops, traffic, email. And this is the context for your melody. Even in this cacophonous symphony of life your melody is yours alone, no one else can sing it for you. When we were children it came so easy and effortless, and it was not without its imperfections, but it was pure and honest and it came free. Then life happens and layers press down. Layers of guilt and shame, your own feelings of inadequacy. We read the headlines of war, divorce, murder, and rape and racism and you begin to wonder whether this fragile little melody you've been given could ever make a dent - at least I do. Through my song - what does it mean in this context? I go out sometimes and sing to the stars. Close your eyes. Stop. Hear the roar of the ocean. You hear the wind in the trees and maybe hear the contagious laughter of your daughter. The creator composer of time and space has answered you. You matter and there is a void in the symphony of life when you are silent. The pain and anger, in the frustration and in the distance. Be brave. Sing through it. Be brave. Sing one note at a time.”

You see, we all live in God’s Larger Story, the one He has been writing and telling since before time began. That beautiful story of love and rescue includes you and me. It allows our individual stories to mesh with His Larger Story through the symphony of life. We must be intimately familiar with both the Author and His Story to discover the connection. It is all around us. It’s in the laughter of a child. The sound of a spring breeze moving the branches of a tree. It’s in a heartbeat. It is in the stunning color of a West Texas sunset. It is in a smile, a kiss, a painting, a song.

And yes, it is IN you. Sing your song. The one God has uniquely given you. Be brave and sing it loud. For His glory and your good.