With a Song in My Heart

While "researching" this post on google, I came across the lyrics to a song by Frank Sinatra that comes very close to describing the reaction Christian music has on my heart. The name of the song is With A Song In My Heart. I thought that it was rather interesting that this is a secular song, yet it describes the experience of praise and worship so well. I have no idea what the tune or the tempo might be. I tried to find it on Project Playlist (to no avail). I know it is an old song. The lyrics to the first verse and chorus are:

With a song in my heart
I behold your adorable face.
Just a song at the start
But it soon is a hymn to your grace.
When the music swells
I'm touching your hand
It tells that you're standing near, and ..
At the sound of your voice
Heaven opens his portals to me.
Can I help but rejoice
That a song such as ours came to be?
But I always knewI would live life through
With a song in my heart for you.

Nothing can make me more aware of the real and tangible presence of the Lord than hearing a praise and worship song or an old time hymn. I am transported to the throne room in an instant. Just like that. 0 to 60 in 1.5 seconds. A song at the start...soon becomes a hymn to his grace. Heaven opens its portals to me. I behold his adorable face. He's standing near. My eyes fill with tears, an invisible force pulling my hands upward like a magnet. . I'm touching his hand. Can I help but rejoice??

Granted, my “rejoicing” is somewhat low key. I go to a United Methodist Church afterall. Charismatic they are not. But I go to the 11:00 “contemporary” worship service which is a bit more charismatic than the other services. I swear that I feel the presence of the Lord there as much, if not more, than at the most boisterous, charismatic, slain in the spirit services I have attended. Mere volume and fever pitch excitement is not always an indicator of his presence. I credit the praise team there for exposing me to Christian music that I might never have listened to otherwise. Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Hillsong, Mercy Me….and others. I truly had never heard them before I started attending church there regularly.

A few months ago, I bought an MP3 player. After some initial software glitches and frustrations, I managed to get most of my online music and CD collection saved on the player. That is a post in itself. Computer savvy I am...gadget savvy I am not. The "Not Savvy" list includes digital cameras, cell phones, MP3 players, I Pods, DVD players and recorders...even VCR's...and the list goes on. If someone put a gun to my head and threatened to pull the trigger, I doubt if I could figure out how to program Keith's DVD recorder. But I digress. Anyway, I just recently figured out how to sync Windows Media Player and my Sansa MP3 player. This opened up a whole new world of musical possibilities and portability. It amazes me that I can carry all those songs around in my pocket. Technology. You gotta' love it!!! I don't understand how most of it works but the fact that it does is downright amazing!!!

Since this blog is a menagerie of loosely related posts, (which means that nothing is really disqualified as the topic dujour) I thought I might start a series on songs...new and old...which evoke strong feelings. Please feel free to chime in and comment on any favorite songs you might have. I do appreciate comments, so do not hesitate if you have anything to add or ask or dispute. This applies to any post you find on this blog. I’ve tried to make it easy to comment by not requiring registration. I, also, clicked off the option that forces you to decipher a row of letters and numbers….some on their sides, in different fonts, and colors, upside down (is that a capital letter???) and then type them into a little rectangular box above or below. I guess this is to prove that the comment is not from an automated spammer since only a human eyeball can read the letter/number combo. So again....comments WELCOME!!!

Oh…and one more thing….and my family can attest to this; God put a song in my heart, but he did not put a melody on my lips. I couldn’t carry a tune in a five gallon bucket!! But that does not stop me from praising him. In the words of the Psalmist, I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music.