31 Days Of Strength In Scripture: The Soundtrack To My Life - Songs For Every Occasion

I love music. Who doesn't, right? Surely only crazy people. Music has so much power to impact our moods – it's no wonder that it's so important to so many of us. But to be honest, you probably wouldn't know how much I enjoy music if you were to observe my daily life. I often forget to play it...I'm so busy with the daily grind that I tend to forget that it exists...which seems kind of ridiculous, considering how much it would probably help me out if I'd just allow it to work its magic.

I even recall one day a few weeks ago when I was talking to my husband about how I'd been feeling a little frustrated and overwhelmed with the house and the kids and the usual stuff, and how I'd been struggling to get through the day, and he casually mentioned, “Why don't you turn on some music?”

Well, duh. Why don't I?

For me this month has been all about finding strength in scripture, but I think that our interpretations of scripture often take the forms of songs and poetry. Many of the the lyrics in my favorite songs impact me on a spiritual level, and I don't doubt that they are often divinely inspired. And even when they're not, I can often find truth and substance in them anyway.

Some of these songs and artists include:

Josh Garrels, my new favorite lyricist. If you are not familiar with his music, go right now and make yourself familiar. Every single song of his has so much depth – I can't get enough of his music. These lyrics are from one of my favorite songs, 'Beyond The Blue':

“Stand on the shores of a site unseen
The substance of this dwells in me
Cause my natural eyes only go skin deep
But the eyes of my heart anchor the sea
Plumbing the depths to the place in between
The tangible world and the land of a dreams
Because everything ain't quite as it seems
There's more beneath the appearance of things
A beggar could be king within the shadows,
Of a wing

And wisdom will honor everyone who will learn
To listen, to love, and to pray and discern
And to do the right thing even when it burns
And to live in the light through treacherous turns
A man is weak, but the spirit yearns
To keep on course from the bow to the stern
And throw overboard every selfish concern
That tries to work for what can't be earned
Sometimes the only way to return is to go,
Where the winds will take you

And to let go of all you cannot hold onto
For the hope, beyond the blue”

U2 has always been my all-time favorite band, especially old-school U2 albums with lyrics like these:

“I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for”

and

“I wanna feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear without a trace
I want to take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name”

Mumford & Sons also has many quotable lyrics that are relevant to life in general:

“Hold on to what you believe in the light, when the darkness has robbed you of all your sight.”

Tom Petty wins, hands down, for Best Road-Tripping and Feel-Good Music:

“I know that look on your face

But there's something lucky about this place
There's something good coming for you and me,
something good coming, there has to be.”

I could go on and on, but of course, I certainly don't think music needs great lyrics to communicate from one soul to another. Some of the most beautiful, epic adventure music comes from orchestral movements and movie soundtracks. I think that through music God gave us a really unique, soul-searching, universal language, and we should tap into that more often. It certainly alters my day to have good thoughts running through my head, and one surefire way to do that is to have some uplifting music filling my space.

Kudos to the hubby for reminding me of this! I'm going to make more of an effort to utilize the power of music in my life.