Melody of the Heart

Have you ever heard a piece of music that filled your heart so that it nearly stopped... that your chest ached with the beauty of it? Yesterday I was listening to a CD I haven't listened to in a long time while cleaning and moving furniture and writing. I had forgotten about the two or three songs on the CD that affected me that way. I stopped what I was doing and sat down to just listen.

In this day and age of loud rowdy music, it's rarer and rarer to be struck by the sheer beauty of a piece of music. As I sat there it came to me that I needed to take the time to just listen, soaking in the majesty of the soaring notes that swelled in the air. It was something that my soul needed and without it, I was less than I needed to be.

For some, music fills the soul. For others it is laughter or art or a sunset. Whatever it is, if we don't take time to nourish our heart and soul, it leaves it hungering, hungering in a way that no loved one can fill. Those things may be around us, but if we don't stop, just stop and take that beauty in, then we miss it. Whatever that thing might be, it requires complete attention.

Have you noticed that everything we do, we allow distractions to rob us? We work on the computer while watching tv or listening to music. We drive while listening to the radio or talking on a cell phone. Reading is often accompanied by the low drone of tv in the background. But never do we stop what we're doing and just give one thing our total attention.

That's a skill we need to cultivate in our hurry up and wait culture. Even while talking to a friend or our spouse our inner consciousness is busy planning the evening meal or what we have to accomplish today. While we read that bedtime story to our children, we don't really "hear" the words because familiarity has dulled our senses. Instead as we mouth those words, we're trying to remember if we have enough clean underwear for work tomorrow.

There are times that this skill is useful. I've been there. Thinking while washing dishes or vacuuming or doing the laundry can provide valuable time to work out that knot in your plot. But we also need to find time in our day to nourish our soul. How long is a song? Five minutes? Surely in our busy day, we can find five minutes to listen to music, or feast on the vivid colors of a painting or really, really look at those pictures gathering dust on the dresser and remember how happy we were when they were snapped.

Many years ago when I was a young mother, my husband was away on a transfer. After the children were in bed, I lighted a couple of candles, turned the lamps off, and listened to a certain CD that I still love to this day. Time slowed down. The chaos of the day faded away as I let the music sing into my soul, preparing me for sleep so that I could face a new day. It is a lesson that I forgot. But I will not forget again. I will feed my soul with beauty.

Anny

Don't forget to drop my Amarinda's blog where she has the Saga and has promised to waffle on about general stuff. www.amarindajones.blogspot.com And then hop over to Kelly's blog where she will no doubt have some good stuff for us. www.kkirch.blogspot.com Blessings on your day!