Melodies From Heaven

It doesn’t matter where I am, or what I’m doing…..when I hear that sound….

…..Time seems to stop……My world grinds to a screeching halt. Everything fades into the background and in my eye line, in my ears, and in every fiber, it reverberates. Pulsating and pounding through me. Tones and beats. Accents and measures. I’m submerged in its enormous wave of bars and rhythms, highs and lows. I don’t want to leave. Now that I’ve heard that sound, I can never be the same. It’s proof of a world beyond my grasp, outside of my purview, beyond my decades of experience.

I can’t explain or recreate it. I spent years trying to find it, or at least, duplicate it. I embraced the clarinet, chased after the guitar, and even passionately pursued the piano in an effort to tap into what I discovered but it still eluded me. I hired instructors, tried to teach myself, and read every book I could find, purchased hundreds of tapes, CDs, albums, and MP3’s and have gone to concerts and watched countless videos hoping for another taste or just a glimpse but the result was the same. I couldn’t find it this way. I tried feverishly to make it last forever. How I wish I could press play on a tape recorder and hear it over and over. How blissfully wonderful it would be to wake up and fall asleep to that melodious, harmonious sound.

Some of the most powerful and moving music ever made still lacks that heavenly melody. It has the innate ability to translate you into joy and peace unlike any other song written by men. It opened my eyes and showed me a dimension that I had not known existed. It brightens my outlook and reminds me of His promises. It speaks to the “me” that others can’t see. It tenderly engages the “me” some won’t see. It calls out to the “me” yet to be revealed. The only time I ever came close was in the solemn moments with tears trickling down my face …..with a repentant song in my heart…..shouting cries of “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord” from my lips. These are the only times I could hear it in the distance coming closer and closer until it created a quaking in my spirit. That sound. boom. That power. That Incredible God. Unmistakable. Irreplaceable. Magnificent.

Music pursued me long before I knew I was being pursued. I had a voice I didn’t request or desire. I never wanted their microphones but I was motivated to share a sound that wasn’t mines to own. To offer a glimpse into a world that so many cannot see and do not know exists. I hoped to make Him known in so many ways but if I can help others hear that sound too, maybe, just maybe, they will be irrevocably changed too. I also learned that this sound was rarely, if ever, welcome in the places where my feet have tread. But I was mistaken to think the music I made belonged to me. It was indeed a gift. I was also so wrong to think I had to play music to hear that sound. I did, however, have to lift up my hands…I did have to prepare my heart….I did have to humble myself……I did have to get into position…..I did have to offer up an undignified praise……I did have to give the voice given to me back to the one who gave it. There I found unbelievable peace, unrelenting joy, and I was able to hear that glorious sound again.

I just couldn’t help but wonder. Can you hear it too?