Heartstrings

February comes and we see hearts in every store display. Having just celebrated Valentines Day it would be easy, cliché even, to use this month’s blog to talk about love. Doubly so as this month is the anniversary of my book release for “Fortress of the Heart.” If you are looking for an interesting take on love then you should check it out. As for this month’s entry, we are going to take a slight detour, because I’d hate to be too predictable.

As a vocal music major in my youth, I would spend hours in voice training, ear training, and theory. I thought music would be a huge part of my life, but priorities shift and that ambition had to be set aside for a while. However, recently I have been directing my energy back into music as I have been developing some new pieces. The studies of long ago are a foundation for how songs are structured and has my mind turning on the music of life. Just bear with me on this analogy.

Everyone’s heart plays its own song. The tempo begins with the first beats of percussion in the womb. An individual’s personality determines what genre(s) they lean towards. One person may be rock and roll, another country, still another classical, and/or everything in between. As people change, it could become an interesting medley over time. There can be experiences that alter the tempo. Calm and relaxing moments that slow the pace to largo, or excitable moments that increase it to allegro. Some songs are long, with many movements, others short and sweet leaving us wishing it could’ve lasted longer. Billions of songs playing out around the world. At times these varied songs can be a great cacophony of dissonance, yet in other instances we can find harmony.

There is another song that plays underneath them all; one as old as time itself. This song began with creation and is God’s heart for mankind. The theme that began in this song can be found seamlessly in all genres. Before I get too philosophical, let me illustrate this with a story.

On our 20th wedding anniversary my husband and I were on the island of Aruba. Sounds great, right? Only this was not the plan. Due to problems with our flight we had missed our cruise ship and the airline forwarded us to the first port of call on the itinerary. I admit that I am a planner, so when the plan goes out the window it damages my calm. There I was on an island paradise stressing as I tried to work out the new plan. I met two women at the resort where we were staying who could see the tempo of my heart was agitato. They told me, in their rich accents, that I was in God’s hands and it would all work out. Just like that our heartstrings resonated with the same chord as sisters in Christ, and peace was restored within me.

Don Piper documents his death to life experience in the book “90 Minutes in Heaven.” I watched an interview of him where he said one of the things he remembered from his time in heaven was the music. He described it as many different songs being sung at the same time, but they were so cohesively beautiful. That is the body of Christ. The individual songs that play on the strings of our hearts come together in Him.

“Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” Colossians 3:14-16

I don’t know about you, but there have been times when I am in an auditorium of believers, lifting our hearts in worship, and you can feel the connection to the Spirit humming in the room. All those individual voices, so many hearts, are as one in peace. When you are there you don’t want it to end. It’s those moments of connecting with the heartstrings of the Creator we are reminded that there is so much more than the individual music we make ourselves. No one should think their song is better than another’s; because whatever a person’s background or nationality, their song is beautiful to God’s ears. Like the women I met in Aruba, the common theme in God’s song for mankind binds us together. Will you join the chorus?

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 NLT