God Wants To Hear You Sing

I love to sing.  I was not gifted with a beautiful voice even though my parents sent me for voice lessons for a few years.  Oh, there's probably a message in there somewhere.  But what God did bless me with was the desire to sing, and the courage to do it in public.  He gave me the ability to carry a tune and interpret a song.  How I would love to have "the gift" of an angelic voice and the three octave range.  But it is what it is and I have not let it stop me.
This time of year reminds me of my first public appearance.  It was the church Christmas program and I was seven.  They put a child's size card table and chair on the stage with a birthday cake on it.  My dad was to carry me out to the table and then leave me there.  I was to light the candles and then sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  My daddy practiced with me for weeks on lighting the candles.  When I look back at it now I have to wonder, "What were they thinking?"  I remember being more nervous about lighting those candles, then singing.  The Saturday before at the practice, they decided to have the cake candles already lit.  Good choice!  I would sing a solo in the program every year after that till high school.  That's when I was old enough to be in the adult choir.  We had a wonderful choir and a very talented, funny director.
At Fairchild Hall, my special ed class put on two operettas.  Hansel and Gretal and Amhal and the Midnight Visitors.  Having a flair for the dramatic, I enjoyed performing in these two little productions for the rest of the school and friends and family.
In junior high I learned to sing alto in our school choir.  This is where my strength was and I quickly learned how to read music and sing harmony.  I would follow this path into high school.
My husband and I have been singing for the Lord now for almost 35 years.  Now he does have a gifted, beautiful voice and I love being his doo wop singer.  Many times I sing alone, but I love to pick out songs that touch my heart and are personal to me.  The problem with that is, I get so caught up in the song that I can't help but cry.  Crying and singing do not work together for me and the sobs caught in my throat usually are the winner. I heard someone sing the most beautiful song one Sunday and asked her, "How can you sing that song without breaking down?"  She said she just sings and never thinks about the words.  I was flabbergasted about that remark.  The day I sing without thinking about the beautiful message in the words, I will quit.  I would rather cry.
So as our choir takes the stage this Sunday to sing a very beautiful Christmas Cantata, I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this group sharing the message of Christ's birth, because I know God wants to hear me sing and He wants to hear you too.  What a wonderful way to praise and worship Him.