The Song You Sing

I was going for a jog along the Truckee River this week. I only jog when the weather is too foul to ride my bike, so I was a little perturbed. It was beginning to snow heavily, the peaceful, quite snow that falls straight down. My mind was reeling that day with the crazy spin that only a true “Type A” personality experiences. It seemed I was looking back on some things from the past that didn’t make sense and was also quite concerned about some things in the future. I have been doing some real inventory lately after finishing Donald Miller’s latest book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.
Miller is taking a sobering look at his life and is especially bothered by how boring it seems. The point of the book I came away with was that all of our lives should be a story worth writing about. Not in a Hollywood kind of way, but in a deeper sense of purpose and calling. Much of my worry was in context of leading a group of Jesus followers into this very uncertain future in a very complex world. Much of my angst was related to questioning my life and my ability to lead people in a way that remotely reflects the true kingdom and wondering what kind of story, if any, that my life was writing. I was listening to the latest offer from Creed and the last song on the album comes on called Song You Sing

Woke up and had a face to face
Guess my reflection had a lot to say
Why let my worries steal my days
It just brings me down

Does the song you sing
Have enough meaning
Inspire us to sing along
Does the song you sing
Keep echoing
Inspire us to sing the song you sing

What's wrong with the world today
Tell me what's all the talk about
Lately i've been in a real bad place
Can't let the world bring me down

Does the song you sing
Have enough meaning
Inspire us to sing along
Does the song you sing keep echoing
Inspire us to sing the song you sing

I hope

The words I wrote
Keep calling out
Keep calling out
Forever let them sing
That song you sing, that song you sing

I hope
The words I wrote
Keep calling out
Keep calling out
Forever let them ring
Hear them echoing…hear them echoing

This song hit me like a ton of bricks. The singer/song writer, Scot Stapp, was making the same point as Donald Miller about life, only he was using the metaphor of a song instead of a story. I instantly started to cry. I sat down at the river and the snow began to collect on my clothes. It was as if everything was okay at that moment. I felt an unusual rush of strength and encouragement flood my soul. I was filled with the thought that I’ve at least got today to write a song that might echo with somebody. I might just inspire someone to sing the song I’m singing. I might not have tomorrow, but I’ve got today, and I’ve got a little bit of control on what happens today, but I can’t really control much past that, and this was pretty refreshing.

And that’s a song worth singing.