“HEARING THE MUSIC BEYOND THE RECORDING”
Here is a wonderful thought from one of my Hazelden Publishing 12-step recovery readings:
“Monday, November 25
All music is what awakes from you when you are
reminded by the instruments.
—Walt Whitman
A small group of friends sat in a room around a record player. It was a heavy
old thing, with parts that had to be operated by hand and only one speaker –
nothing like a modern stereo at all, but more like an antique phonograph. The
record – a recording of their favorite music – was old, too, and scratched, its
grooves worn smooth as a stone in some places. The tone arm skipped and
scratched, and the sound was tinny, hard on the ears.
Most of the friends squirmed in their seats as they listened, and several
grumbled that it was impossible to hear the music with such inferior equipment.
But one of the group sat listening, her eyes closed, swaying to the music and
humming softly to herself.
“How can you enjoy this?” the others asked.
“Ah,” she said with a mysterious smile. “I am listening beyond
the recording to the music I know is there!”
Can I find the music that’s playing for me today?”
(From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
Am I—are we—listening to the music I know is there?
As I write this journal entry, my wife is asleep. Sitting here, listening to the rhythm of her breathing, do I hear the blessed hymn of her rest? What a wonderful symphony Sharon is, even when she is asleep!
Will I hear the music that I know is there today when I attend scholarly lectures at the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting? Scholarly presentations are merely the notes on the page. They are not the music. But the music is there.
And then, there is my own music. Do I really listen to the music of my own life: the dramatically dark movements and the passages that are filled with light and joy? Does God enjoy listening to the symphony that is me?
Today, I will listen to the music that is beyond the recording.
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