Sing Unto the Lord a New Song

I suddenly realized the other day why my mama always used to say “pray and ask the Lord to give you peace about it” or “you should be in church.” They weren’t just pat answers, given just because she was a Christian and regularly went to church. That was her advice, which I didn’t, at the time, have the patience for even though I tried because she asked me to. Those were her answers ~ because those things worked for her.

I find myself doing the same thing with my kids in times of distress or trouble. I tell them “choose the outcome that you want from this situation, believe in the reality of that outcome, do everything that you can possibly do to ensure that outcome, but then be patient and believe.” I advise them to continue believing and to return to that belief every time the fear and worry thoughts that we’re all subject to come up. Reiterate that the outcome you’ve chosen is what will come about.

Every thought that you think, every word that you say, everything that you do matters. Since that’s the case why not spend that time that you would spend being upset and worried, reassuring yourself and engaging in active belief instead?

You have compassion for other people, family members, friends, when they’re going through a hard time, right? So now have some compassion for yourself; treat yourself to the same kind of comfort and reassurance that you give to others when they’ve made a mistake that is coming back to haunt them or they’re trying to figure out how to learn something from that mistake, correct it, and move on. You do that for others; do it for yourself.

Take responsibility, yes, because with responsibility comes power – when you take responsibility for what you say and what you do and especially for what you think and feel, you take ownership of the reality that flows from those things. You take ownership of the outcome and you empower yourself to effect that outcome, to bring it into being.

Which is all another way of saying “pray about it and asked the Lord to give you peace,” isn’t it. If you are of the Christian persuasion or any spiritual tradition, really, that centers on a belief in God, and if you are created in God’s image, as you surely must believe if you are a member of that tradition, then you must have a divine spark in you. If you believe that God is the creator then, as you are created in His image, so are you. It’s your birthright, so don’t trade it for pottage.

Everything you think, everything you say, everything you do creates your world, creates your life, writes the story that is you. Everyone can write a story, just like everyone can sing. If you have a voice, any kind of voice, you can make a joyful noise. Whether or not you think you have a good voice is irrelevant. What matters is that you can express your joy through song.

In the same way, everyone can write a story. In fact, everyone is writing a story every day of their lives. Whether you realize it or not, whether you intend to or not, you’re writing your story every minute of every day. You get to choose how much is edited and revised and planned out but most of all you get to choose if it’s a good story, a happy story, a joyful story, a strong confident blessing of a story.

And that’s even easier than having a voice to sing with, because if you are alive and not in a coma, you have the intellectual capacity to write your story the way that you want to, to make your life and the events of your life into what you want them to be, to effect and affect the outcome of every situation in whatever way you choose.

So “sing unto the lord a new song” . . . because it is through YOU ~ through your choice, your work, your steadfast belief ~ that those marvelous things are truly done.

See you ~ singing ~ on the beach.

Rebecca