I love that before a soundtrack becomes a soundtrack, it’s
just a random collection of individual songs.
There’s nothing too noteworthy in any individual song in and
of itself, other than a catchy melody or creative progression or lyric we might
momentarily admire the first time we hear it playing on the radio. But it has
no particular personal connection, and soon we’ve moved on and forgotten about it.
Unbeknown to you, that song gets woven into the soundtrack
of a film that mirrors back to you the emotions we all feel at one point or
another in the story it tells; the challenges, joys, fears, moments and
questions we experience in life.
The way you hear that particular song changes entirely from then on.
It’s a
funny thing.
Music completes the picture, it completes our experiences.
It seems to explain a depth to things that plain words cannot. Movies would not be movies without a
score. Somehow, music becomes essential to telling the WHOLE story, helping us
make more sense of it all. It’s almost as if music connects the personal
experiences and ordinary scenes of life with so much more meaning than we often feel, and we can identify with films – we love them - because
we’re all right here in the grit of everyday life ourselves. And to be reminded
that there is meaning to the daily
grind, day in, day out, seems to be a constant need for humanity; the highs and
lows, the fears and joys, the sorrows and victories. We crave a greater sense
of purpose for it all. There’s got to be a method to the madness, surely!
So when a random song helps to interpret part of your story, it suddenly becomes your
soundtrack. It has personal significance. That particular song now reminds you of where you’ve been, and what
you’ve felt and thought and experienced. What you’ve LIVED. And it means so
much more, because of that personal connection. You know it off by heart.
I recently saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in the
theatre with friends, which got me thinking along these lines, because I found
myself wanting to listen to the soundtrack of the movie again afterward, and
loved how each song brought back different scenes in the movie. Each song held
something it had never held for me before. I had listened to a couple of the artists and songs already,
that were in the soundtrack, before seeing the movie, but never
thought much of them past the fact that they were pretty good
songs. Just standard, Indie pop songs.
But because I loved the movie, and the message it sends, and
identified strongly with its themes, the songs have now taken on new meaning
for me. To the point where I wanted to hear them again, to remember what
appealed to me about it, and the emotions and feelings I experienced when watching the
movie.
This in turn, got me thinking about God, and us, and music, and how He has written a story, that is also incomplete without a soundtrack…
But this
soundtrack, we have been given the
opportunity to write ourselves.
Each of us has a personal testimony of His saving grace and
goodness: a personal experience that has changed the outcome of our lives
forever, and given them purpose and Hope for the day in, day out. He has saved
us, and allowed us to know his Presence and companionship, day-to-day. That is Life, more abundant and
fulfilling than anything else. He created it, and he makes himself available to
us, right in the grit of it. He holds it all together. He knows the monotony of
a day in, day out. Of joy, and pain and sorrow, rejection, regret, victory,
hope, love and laughter. Going home, waking up, spending time with friends,
cleaning the house, walking down the street. Working hard. Nothing is too
complex or simple for him. He wants to do it all with us, and he showed us this
when he sent Jesus to the earth, to proclaim his love and salvation to all
people, and invite us to take part in the biggest story there ever was.
It is He that makes beautiful things out of us. He is the author and finisher of Life. Ultimate meaning is found in him. He is the end and the beginning.
The soundtrack to THIS story is our worship. Each of us has a song to sing, whether we’re musical
or not; a personal experience to remember and commemorate his involvement in our lives. A platform from
which response is due. Our songs together are helping to tell the WHOLE story,
so that the watching world’s quest for meaning and purpose will be fulfilled
forever, in the release of the complete and perfect picture of HIS love for us, and for them.
I sing, because I want to remember what he’s done for me,
remember that I have life, and life abundant, that he stepped into my life, that
I had a real and personal experience. My song reminds me of my purpose, and connects
others to a bigger picture. A whole, complete picture. A picture the World is waiting to see.
When a song becomes a soundtrack…
Though you might feel like ‘a random song’ no one really
listens to, sing, and sing LOUD. Because you are being woven into a much bigger
story than just your own, and your song is becoming part of the soundtrack to the
greatest ‘movie’ of all time.
All of our ‘random songs’ are making up the soundtrack to
HIS story. A story is made complete with music.
Our Worship.
The soundtrack connects us to the story. And it will connect the World to the Story.
[Your decrees have been the theme of my songs wherever I
have lived. I reflect at night on who you are, O LORD; therefore, I obey your
instructions. This is how I spend my life: obeying your commandments.]
Psalm 119:54-56 NLT
