Friday, February 26, 2010

Let Me Sing You a Song

It has been said, “A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” (Page 143 Aspire, by Kevin Hall)

With that in mind, would you mind if I sing you a song? Maybe you’ve forgotten some of the words. It happens to me sometimes. How embarrassing when the conductor looks at me and cues me to sing, but I haven’t even turned to the right page. I’m clearly lost.

If you’ve momentarily lost your place, if you’ve forgotten the lyrics to your song of life, here are a few of the words to refresh your memory.

God loves you.
You are special.
No one has your finger print or foot print.
You are a unique specimen and cannot be duplicated.
Failure is not final. Never has been, never will be.
You have capabilities, just like everyone else.
Go with your strengths. What are you best at?

I think the second verse goes like this:

It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
(Invictus, William Ernest Henley. 1849-1903)

You can’t be invincible if you are feeling down, deflated, out of gas and out of air. That is when you need a friend to come along side you, one who knows the song in your heart. Let them sing your song to you. The words will come back to you.

In his book, Aspire, Kevin Hall tells of a man named Arthur Watkins, a retired university professor who devoted his life to etymology, the study of words. Listen to what Arthur has to say about the word "inspire"
.
“Inspire” comes from the Latin “inspirare”, which means to breathe, and “in” implies “into”. To inspire is to “breathe into.”

How can you and I “breathe into” someone today?

Arthur continues, “When you 'encourage,' you add to someone’s heart."

As I sit writing this blog, I just received the most encouraging email from a long-ago friend with whom I recently reconnected on Face Book. Wilbur’s words breathed into my spirit. Wow! What encouraging words he said to me. He “added to my heart.”

Words have a tremendous power for good in our world.

Words can bring hope.
Words can encourage.
Words can inspire.
Words can calm.
Words can heal.
Words can uplift.
Words can sooth.
Words can teach.
Words can lighten.
Words can stop discord.
Words can change a direction.
Words can restore a relationship.

That is what I love to do. I seek to find a way to encourage someone every day that I live. Maya Angelou puts it this way:

“People will forget what you said,
People will forget what you did,
But people will never forget how you made them feel.”

What words can we speak to someone today? Do you know someone whose light has gone out of their spirit? Is their pathway dark and stormy?

Come along side of them, and sing to them their song.


On the journey together,
Michael

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