Let There Be Music

This is a different type of devotion today.  In the aftermath of hurricane Helene, I have felt a sense of sadness and an overabundance of tears and helplessness.  The mountain people are my people.  My father was from the foothills of NC and my mom is from the other side of the continental divide in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.   I was born in NC.  The mountain people are my people.  Even though I spent the majority of my “growing-up years” in the sand of South Carolina, my heart was in the mountains.  It is home.  If I had to choose between the mountains or the beach, it is always the mountains.  The mountains are calling.  Hear them mountains over there? I know I am mixing up my present and past tenses.  I can’t seem to find a way to do otherwise.  There will forever be a before and an after when it comes to Hurricane Helene and the Carolinas.  Every. Single. Thought. brings sadness and tears for my(our) people. 

Then there will be music.  Music is a balm for the soul.  If you ever watch the TV show Alone or some of those other reality TV shows, each participant usually finds some way to make music.  Music allows our emotions to build and release.   Funeral dirges, or more somber music allows others to feel our sadness.  Easy, rhythmic music allows our stresses to ease away.  Upbeat tempos have us tapping our feet or swaying to the beat and helps erase away the blues and lift our spirits.  Instrumental music can relax and allow your mind to sail away.  Music is a balm for the soul. 

When we hear drums, we may think of African tribes celebrating some victory, native Americans having a Pow Wow, soldiers marching off to war, a marching band revving up the stands at a football game, or a roll of snares and symbols that will have any rocker fan thrumming with adrenaline.  It’s all music.  Pan flutes and pipes bring a feeling of meditation and calmness.  Bring in the fiddles, banjos, acoustic guitars, steel guitars, harmonicas, dulcimers, and a bass and you immediately think of country music and mountain music.  Isn’t it amazing how God allowed the creation of so many beautiful instruments to make music?

I am always blown away when I start looking at God’s word in reference to a specific topic. The entire book of Psalms can be considered a song book. Ephesians 5:19 says, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing andmaking melody to the Lord.” Both Old and New Testaments make references to singing and dancing and making music. Colossians 3:16commands us to“sing to God with gratitude in our hearts”. Sometimes it can take a minute to find and remember gratitude, especially in the face of such tragedy and loss from a storm. But music can help bring back memories and build that bridge that pulls us back from the edge of despair. 

I have thought and prayed and meditated over the losses for the mountains and foothills of NC, SC, GA, and TN in the aftermath of Helene and many songs just keep coming back over and over: He Owns the Cattle of A Thousand Hills, Mountain Music, Take Me Home Country Road, Go Tell It on the Mountain, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, You Raise Me Up, High on a Mountain, Shout to the Lord, Angels We Have Heard on High, and the list goes on. Find a song that speaks to you. Sing it. Hum it. Play it. Pray it. Pray for those who are physically lost and those who are spiritually lost. Pray for the chaos to become controlled. Pray for wisdom from those who are helping. Pray for each to find a little nugget of peace and comfort. Pray that the majesty and power of God Almighty will be seen throughout the land. This land is not our own. We are just passing through. The hardest days are coming. Winter is coming. There is a marathon ahead of us. Let us all have the foresight and perseverance to stay the marathon and help our fellow mountaineers till the finish line is crossed. May God direct our paths, out thoughts and our lips and hands when it is time to serve again.