Traveling Music
Will you be traveling for the holidays? Don’t forget music. Travel is sometimes sunny, sometimes weary, and music passes time, adjusts the outlook. Every road trip needs a little music—a playlist, perhaps, made up of all the songs you want more of, the songs that will keep you moving in the right direction.
If life is a journey, what songs are you singing along the way?
Maybe, already as a child, you started collecting songs to travel through life with. I did. Some of my earliest memories include music. One of the first melodies I remember singing was “The Birds Upon the Treetops.” (I sang that one into a tape recorder so my Opa and Oma, so far away, could hear my little voice.) Then there was “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love.” (That one still comes to mind now and then in the checkout lane at Meijer, or while driving.) Over the years, other favorites emerged: “This Is My Father’s World” while teaching my kids and while hiking. “Praise to the Lord the Almighty” at each of their baptisms. These all are treasures still.
There’s another song that’s accompanied me through life so far. The tune changed a couple of times over the decades, but the words haven’t. They never will. Based on Psalm 118:24, “This Is the Day that the Lord Has Made” first left my lips as a chirpy Sunday school song. Later, gathered with other high schoolers serious about voice, the lyrics repeated, this time as a glorious chorale. We offered “This Is the Day that the Lord Has Made,” a gift floating perfectly over the balcony at a church wedding. Later still, another rendition at another wedding—my wedding.
What began as that chirpy, childhood song is now the anthem of my life. This is the day that the Lord has made. The truth applies easily to the joy-filled days. But on the weary days—of defeat and disappointment—Psalm 118’s song is a weapon, fighting to fix my gaze on the Handler of my days. The words remind that because He authored today and every day, there is joy to be found in His sovereignty and deep care. Therefore I can sing on as I travel life’s road. He is the God who sees, and He is with me. He is for me. He is with you, and He is for you.
Other melodies have drifted and departed over the years. Some worth singing, many probably not. The ones on repeat are the scripture songs, my faithful travel companions.
What songs are you carrying along through life? What is your anthem? We’re journeying Home, Christian. Sing on.
Photo by I'M ZION on Unsplash