You don’t have to read through this site very long to figure out that music flavors a lot of my thinking. I often tell people that I almost always have a song on my mind, and it’s often very random. (I’d rather not tell you what song is there right now, but it does have the phrase “freakin weekend” in it).
Hey, I never said they were all spiritual.
Anyway…
Like a lot of people, I love the idea of new ways of expressing things – of what the Bible calls “singing a new song to the Lord.” And I get tired pretty quickly of rehashing the same-old same-old.
That said, there are some songs that defy time and never seem to lose their place in the hearts of people. They may not be on this week’s Billboard Top 100, but they never lose their ability to capture the imagination and connect to the soul. They’re the songs we can sing forever.
For example, my grandmother absolutely loved music. She loved to sing it, play it, and hear it. But something completely changed in her countenance when somebody started in on “Amazing Grace.” It was a song she could sing forever.
I don’t know why, but my mother would morph into a silly schoolgirl again whenever somebody played Eddy Arnold’s “Anytime” on the stereo. She wasn’t much of a singer, but this was a song she could at least hear forever.
Many classical music fans would say the same thing about the “Hallelujah Chorus” or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Popular music of every generation has some lesser representations of that, and I’m sure you have your own.
The Bible also hints at such things. The verses describing worship in heaven in Revelation hint at themes around the throne of God that people never seem to tire of singing. And no matter how much we may want to crow about something new and different, we seem to return again and again to Psalm 23 – even though most of us have never even touched a sheep, much less shepherded one. Yet “The Lord is my shepherd” is something our hearts seem to resonate with more and more as we age, for some reason. For those who walk with Christ, it’s a song we can sing forever.
What is it about those high-impact expressions of love, worship, passion or desire that connect on such a profound level? Why should it matter, and why should you care?
Last question first: It matters and you should care because you were born with a heart to worship. I mean that in the religious sense of the word, but also in the sense of “declaring the worth” of something or someone. Yes, Jesus is the object of our highest praise. But hearts created to love and value great truth, themes and people can find in their Forever Songs important declarations of belief, yearnings of the heart, and expressions of highest values. There’s a reason these are the songs we can sing forever.
So what are these Forever Songs like? What do they seem to have in common?
Start with creativity. Songs you can sing forever have a unique way of capturing the essence of a thought, feeling, or desire. They aren’t weird – just fresh expressions of phrases and rhythm and melody. Often the idea is profoundly simple, yet layered with rich emotion. Have you listened to “You are So Beautiful” or “I Will Always Love You” lately? Whatever you think of the singers, the songs are uniquely, creatively simple.
A Forever Song is nearly always a declaration of worth – God’s or somebody’s. Nobody sings songs about misery and pain forever… only for a season. Forever Songs express heartfelt value, appreciation, adoration, or respect. Passion is there too, but it’s more of a passion for a lifetime, not passion for the moment.
Forever Songs often capture a metaphor that resonates with the heart. “I once was lost but now I’m found, Was blind but now I see” does that. So do phrases that have the mountains spell your name or your Shepherd leading you beside quiet waters. They poetically capture the depths of relationships or the desires and the imagination of the singer in one or two short phrases.
Forever Songs have a way of expressing human shortcomings or need, even as they boldly express feelings. “Amazing Grace” ends with 10,000 years being just a good start on praising God. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” faithfully connects with friends who are down and out – can you relate?
Forever Songs capture elements we all want to hold onto forever. Love, beauty, happiness/joy, truth, understanding are themes you find again and again in those songs. Why? Because Forever Songs celebrate something or Someone, and you were born to celebrate.
Forever Songs also have an overcoming theme in them, too. The amazing grace of God overcomes the wretched sinner I once was. “Anytime” promises to come back – overcoming the ugliness and forgiving the separation between two people. And what else could be said about the “Hallelujah Chorus?”
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth…
And He shall reign forever and ever.
When it’s time to retrace the points again on your life compass, or to reconnect again with who or what matters most, go back to your Forever Songs. It’s a pretty safe bet you won’t be singing about a freakin’ weekend. But you will be celebrating who you adore, what you believe, and why you were put on this planet in the first place.