March 2010
I celebrated my birthday last month! It was great! A group of friends and I sang karaoke at a local place. The office staff members and I enjoyed the most delicious cinnamon rolls from Wheatfields Bakery. I watched The Bachelor with my favorite “Monday is hen-night” girlfriends. I spent evenings in the company of my closest friends—eating homemade soup and the cheesiest pizza, laughing at things said and done, being reminded of how much I love these people. Really, all the celebration moments were so wonderful! But the highlight of them was the gift my best friend and roommate Mandy gave me.
Mandy took me to a showing of A Prairie Home Companion that was recorded live and broadcasted at a local theater. If you are not yet familiar with this audio production, I recommend you check out http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/.
They sing, “Count your blessings; name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count you blessings; name then one by one. Oh, count your many blessings; see what God has done.” I sat there and just smiled feeling so thankful for the ways they were bringing joy to the stage, theater and into my heart. They tapped their feet dramatically—lifting one up and rocking back on the other then rocking forward again all to the beat of the drums, the strum of the guitar, the melody of the piano. They strain their necks out to reach the long notes and go up on their tip-toes to hit the high notes. They smile out the corner of their mouths and then smile with their eyes because the mouth isn’t enough. They close their eyes and let the words being sung sink deep into his bones. They lean forward, awkwardly and completely off balance, just to let their bodies sing with their voices.
They sing another, “Oh glory how happy I am. My soul is washed in the blood of the Lamb—glory halleluiah.” They cannot keep their feet from moving. They cannot stop the smiles from coming. Their hands beat their thighs. Their heads tilt back and forward. Their eyes are lifted and closed.
Lyrics from one of those songs were “I’ll get along as long as a song is down in my soul!” I could see them sing the song in their souls! Sometimes you just know when a song, a thing that is so deep within, is being song for the sake of the soul. I saw that tonight—I was reminded of that through this production. To love what you do, to love doing it, to love how you feel when you do what you love—to be free to love something that you do. We should not be what we do, but we do have things that we do. I want to love what I do. I want to count the things I do as blessings. I want the song of my soul, the happiness within, to be seen, felt and heard.
Remember the joy that we’ve been given. Smile at the blessings. “Sing” what is in your soul. Thanks for the ways you teach me about thankfulness. Thanks for sharing in this season of life. Please, continue to pray for me and WMF staff members and communities. Email or write if you have a chance PO Box 70, Omaha NE 68101 or hilary,wilken@wordmadeflesh.org). Peace to you!
Hilary