Do I Sing to Encourage Others, and Do I Encourage Others to Sing?

I have been working on trying to write this post up for a couple of weeks now, and each time I would get time to sit and try to process the thoughts it just didn't work out. I'd fall asleep, or get side tracked with other things; but here I am now trying to process what message I got from it. 

Earlier in February, I woke up to two different songs; but the one that I was hearing as I got out of the bed was Rockin' Robin. It was released in 1958, the author used a pseudonym of Jimmy Thomas. It was made popular sung by Bobby Day. It reminds me of the songs my mother played for me on the LP's that she still had from her youth, even though I don't believe it was one that she had on an album, to play for us. 

(taken from Google)

In reading through the lyrics it tells a story of how the robin has a song to sing and while the swallow, chickadee, owl, crow, raven, buzzard, and oriole are all mentioned, they enjoy hearing the song of the robin and they are cheering on the robin to sing their song. All the birds on the street "love to hear the robin go tweet, tweet, tweet."

My first thought was "Why does everyone like to hear the robin sing?" According to my Google search, "the robin's song signals the arrival of spring, warmer weather, and renewal. It is one of the first to sing at dawn and the last at dusk, it brings peace, optimism and comfort."

Then I looked to see if there was a "story" behind the writing of the song. Well the story says that the author's wife was being kept up at night by a bird singing in a tree outside their window. Then it happened over enough nights that the husband ended up writing the song. He didn't think enough of it to put his name on it, he used his mother-in-law's name. =) The bird that was singing and keeping he and his wife awake was not a robin, though. It was a mocking bird, and the author's wife wanted him to get the bird to hush up. He didn't have the heart to, because the only way he could was to "throw a rock at it." 

So- it is said that the robin's song, that everyone on the street loved to hear, signals arrival of spring- a season change. Then that it brings peace, optimism, and comfort. The mnemonic of it is "cheerily, cheer up, cheer up", according to AI overview on Google. 

(Shutterstock image)

Then my question to myself was this- "Do others enjoy and want to hear my song?" Does it bring peace, optimism, and comfort?" This makes me think of 1 Corinthians 14: 3, which says this, "But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them." (NLT) One who prophesies... 

But what does it mean to prophesy? A lot of people get pictures like from movies, when some old, stern looking, sour puss, got up and spoke about doom and gloom and terrible things coming. Now, I am not saying that sometimes a prophets message doesn't speak of difficult things coming. I am however, saying that a prophet speaks the heart of the Father to his children through others. Since it is coming through people, when you receive something, you still need to pray on it, seek the Father's wisdom and guidance. But my definition of the word "prophesy" is simply sharing a message from the Father's heart to others, according to the guideline in 1 Corinthians 14:3. So, it will strengthen, encourage, and comfort them. 

The information about robins also says that they are one of the first to sing at dawn, and the last to sing at dusk. The robin praises from first sun up to sun down.

Psalm 113: 2-4 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord's name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens." (NKJV)

If the robin can praise the Lord from sun rise to sun set, do I?? If not, what is holding me back? Often times it is because I am looking at the wrong thing. I am looking at my troubles, not at the One that can fix it. I am looking at the aches and pains, not at the Great Physician. I am looking at things around me, not at the One that holds it all in His hands. God help me to keep my eyes set on You. Psalm 42: 5 - "Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." (NKJV)

The Passion Translation says it like this- "So then, my soul, why would you be depressed? Why would you sink into despair? Just keep hoping and waiting on God, your Savior. For no matter what, I will still sing with praise, for you are my saving grace."

 No matter what, do I sing with praise?? I know that answer, for me; and I am trying to improve the number of occasions where I do sing with praise, no matter what, instead of being depressed or simply complaining. What does complaining do?? It glorifies the problem over the Problem Solver, and I don't want to do that. =) 

Now, in the story of the song, he changed the bird type from the one that was waking, or keeping them awake. It was actually a mocking bird. NOW- the mocking bird gets such a bad reputation for "mocking". But in looking up information about the mocking bird they are really quite amazing. 

(Birdsandblooms.com)

Mocking birds are known for copying songs of other birds and even for copying the noises of car alarms and some machines. I have heard some people talk about how much they don't like mocking birds, and I was probably one that said that at some point in my life. I have learned a lot since then, and my attitude is a bit different. Think about how much intelligence this bird needs to be able to mimic so many different songs/noises. "Bird Brain" is something people use to put others down about how smart they are- but WOW! Trying to think about this to make it a bit more relatable, as my husband said, it is like someone that can speak up to 200 different languages! A mocking bird has this huge repertoire of songs for a few different reasons. It is for mating, for defense and it is a territorial thing, too. Another things that makes a mocking bird stand out as different is that it sings even in the night. Remember, it was the mocking bird that was keeping the song's author and his wife up at 2:00 AM. The robin sings from dawn to dusk.

I was telling a friend just the other day how at one point the songs we sang at a church I attended, we had to memorize, if we wanted to sing along. They were the scripture songs and choruses. We didn't have song books or hymnals at this church, so we had to learn the words. It was really good for me, and many of these songs are still very much a part of me. I grew up in a church with hymnals, and we listened to a lot of southern gospel, I mean a LOT. That included groups like the Bill Gaither Trio, or the Rambos, Doug Oldham and many other groups like that were very common sounds in our house. I loved hearing the beautiful harmonies often to hymns, and song stories- but all pointing to the cross and to what the Lord has done, can do, and will do! Then there was 2nd Chapter of Acts that put out their recordings of the hymns. I possibly wore out a couple of cassettes (yes, I know that dates me a bit, but that is what we had at the time, and listened to often). So, my heart and memory has many songs memorized, but there are some that I sing to him that no one else knows, because they are Mary Beth originals. 

I love how songs can speak so many different things, though. They can speak of love, of need, of gratitude, of battles and or victories won or not. They can be almost like a good book and carry you to a place you need to be. Like the song that was popular back a while ago, Thank You.  Listening to that, you can envision the story as it unfolds. Or even Carmen's song, Lazarus, Come Forth, or The Champion. Lately, I've been reminded of some songs that were written and recorded by Twila Paris, most recently her song, How Beautiful. It quotes part of Isaiah 52: 7, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" (NKJV)

So, the mocking bird may copy others, but so do I. I sing the old songs that I've memorized, I sing along with the newer songs that I have heard and they speak to me. I have a very long list of songs. If you look at my play lists, of which I have quite a few, one of my longer play lists has 159 songs in it, that translates to just over 15 hours of music! Each song speaks of something different to me, and as I play it, or sing it, it may speak something different to me each time. I could listen to it the same time you do, and we can both get a different message from the same exact song. Because the Lord can use anything to speak to what we need to hear at any given moment. So, while Rockin' Robin took me down this path today, if I hear it again it may speak something else to me, even though I'll remember this message, too. 

What is my take away from all of this?? 

Each person has a song. Sing it! Don't worry about how it sounds, it will bless, and encourage someone, so don't hold it back.  Be the message others can read.

2 Corinthians 3: 2 "For your very lives are our "letters of recommendation," permanently engraved on our hearts, recognized and read by eveybody." (TPT)

Each person has a story that can be told (sometimes sung) live it, speak it, or sing it! 

Psalm 66: 16-20 "Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me!" (NKJV)

Even the psalmist in the above passage couldn't stop telling of how God heard his prayers, and answered them. How much more should I?

Father, thank you for the way you share your heart. Thank you for speaking to me through songs that may not be normally thought of in that vein, but that you opened so much to me. Help me to share. Help me to live the testimony and to use words when needed. Help me to encourage, strengthen and comfort others in sharing your heart with them. Help me to speak in the language of Your heart that will speak to the one intended to hear the message. <3 Help me also to encourage others to sing their song. 

Do I Hide What Makes Me Special?

 Well, they said we were in for another storm. They said we'd have about 6" of snow. They said it would be strong wind and COLD. They were right about the wind, they were right about cold, but here our snow fall was less than they said. I do know places that do not normaly get snow did. So, I've been praying for those that have been without power or struggling to keep warm through this; so the Lord to help them through this.

However, during this time of being inside a bit more than normal due to the weather, I ended up seeing something that made me think, and it kind of got me a bit excited. I am going to do my best to describe a video I saw that started me down this trail. 

Picture a video that starts in the hallway of a fairly average looking home, and travels through it. The screen reads something to the effect of "The Christmas Gift that Kept Giving This Year." Then it shows a mother and her children moving around and then mom is taking sheet rock off, what looks like a knee wall and we see that it is actually the railing and spindles for a beautiful bannister for the stairs and the landing at the top of the steps. You see her removing a sheet of luan that has been covering antique solid wood doors that just need to be cleaned up and maybe a coat of paint, and you see her removing sheet rock from walls and exposing bead board underneath that is in beautiful condition other than being cleaned up. I watched it again, and shared it with my husband. He asked me "Who would cover up all that character?" I agree? Who would cover up all the parts that make it different and unique? Those add beauty and value to the home, as well as come character. But then this thought hit me. So very many people do just that. In living life we notice a piece of us that is very different. Something that we do that makes us stand out from others can sometimes make us feel weird, so we cover it up and/or bury it, so it isn't seen. It embarrasses us, or makes us uncomfortable, right?

How often have I tried harder to "fit in" than I was meant to? 

How often have I allowed what someone else thought of me, or how I act, cause me to shut that down?

How often have I thought less of me, because of what someone else said, or what I thought they thought about me?

How often have I allowed the wrong voice to shut down part of me that is meant to shine?

How do I see myself??

Sometimes those voices came from people that I honored as an authority in my life. Sometimes they were from "friends". Sometimes the thoughts are whispered into my ear as what someone else is "thinking" and it is simply a ploy of the enemy to shut down something in me that the Father created in me.

Psalm 139 speaks about how I was and your were created in every detail by the Great Creator, our Father that dreamed up every little detail about me. He knows every details about me, He sees me as beautiful! Psalm 139: 13-16- "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." (NLT)

He made ALL the delicate parts. As a person that has worked with crafts, and decorated some cookies and cakes and even candies. Sometimes in the making and putting things together - the details can seems tiny, sometimes so small they are hard to see. I may even need to pull out a magnifying glass to see it well. But when God put me, and you, all together. All the cells, all the arteries and veins, the organs, the bones & cartiledge, not to mention how all the systems work together and how the neurons and everything fires. He knew the way you would think, He created your sense of humor, and how You would give and receive love. 

I know that keeping our perspective of things God focused is important, but it is also important to have a God focused view of myself makes a huge difference, too! If I listen to and believe the negative talk from the enemy in my ear, OR that he speaks through others that has all the potential to distract me and pull me away from the destiny and purpose God has for me. 

I ask myself occasionally if I am looking at myself and my life through the Father's eyes. Do I only measure myself by what I do, what I've learned, how I feel? 

I don't always see the depth and breadth of all that I am experiencing or feeling or seeing. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that we see through a glass darkly, or dimly (depending on the translation). Then Isaiah 55: 8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways," says the Lord. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."(NKJV)

So, I ask for the mind of Christ, and for Him to share His thoughts about situations, and for His wisdom and leading to get through the circumstances that I can't see the way through. I ask Him what He sees when He looks at me. I ask Him to help me see through His eyes. 

In listening to the wrong voice, or hiding the parts of me that I see as something too different and I try to hide it. not only am I burying a "talent" but I could potentially be hiding a part of me that could make them more comfortable, or see that as a connection between us, giving an open door for a relationship or a way to encourage them. 

The servant that buried his talent, said that he knew the master, and told his version of how he saw the Master. So the master acted like the servant expected and took what He had given him, and sent him away. I don't want to take the talents that the Lord has planted inside of me, and bury them. I don't want to hide what He's given me. I saw a picture a few years ago during the holidays, and as I am talking about not hiding what He has put in me.  I took a quick snap shot of it, and my feeling has been since I saw this that we don't have just a season to sparkle, but that we should sparkle each day. (Yes, even the men!) We should sparkle with all He has put in us.

Lord, thank you for all the thought you put into creating me. Thank you for all you packed into me as you created me.  Help me not to hide it. Help me not to listen to the voices whispered in my ear, or what others may think, or even say to shut me down, or sow worry or fear. Remind me that what you put in me is there for a reason and  it can open doors to reach others, and be a wonderful chapter in my story of how You have worked in my life. Help me to sparkle for You, help me to use all the talents You have given me and use them to Your glory! =) Thank you, Lord!