The music of life and soul.
William M. Howard, January 22, 2008

Where do I start?

Where do I begin?

On my far left, the vision is clear to the beginning of my life. There are events and scenes I remember from the time of a toddler and even before by the verbal accounts from family members.

The vision of this time wave has distinct markers placed on the path.  As I cascade my view across the band and peer at the marks, the images of the people and places grow into visible scenes and I am present there with them all over again.

I continue to view towards the right and come to focus as it halts directly in front of me like the end of a music staff with a solid bar marking the end of the measure.  Then off to the right a faint band, gray in color, but with similar kinds of markings as was on the left.

On my left I can see the beginning of my life and a faint band further before it demonstrating the time before.  But on my right, the time-bow stretches beyond.  I don’t see an end. 

Yes, I do believe what is before me is the staff of life.  A set of horizontal, parallel lines with notes, some high and some low.  It is like a piece of sheet music and it sits there waiting for me to play it over and again in my mind.

What is the instrument that I play?  What do I play to sound out the music and not just sounds but sights as well, the scenes and people who come visible as the notes are plucked.  What instrument do I play?

 

As time passes, half century later, I wonder.  I wonder as I look upon this arrangement.  I wonder what is the instrument.  My head thinks and my heart yearns to know. 

There is a natural trinity to us.  They are our body, our mind and our soul.  The body we occupy from the time of conception to when it ceases life.  Our mind and state of conscientious is what we contend with to develop with knowledge which are the knowledge of experience, the knowledge of wisdom, and the knowledge of people, places, and things.  And when life ends, when the body stops and the mind comprehends no more, we are left with only the soul.

The body and mind are gifts and they will drift from us.  The soul is the gift that will always be.  Yes a gift for us to have for ever and ever.

It is the greatest gift we can get.  Yet, we seem to tuck it away into a dark corner.  We put it away and forgot it most of the time.

Some of us take it out once a week, dust it off as best we can and take it to the Sunday event we call worship.  We carry it in and place it up before us so that we might puff it up a bit.   We feed our soul, just a bit.  It firms up and doesn’t feel so limp as we trot on out to the world again back to where our minds and body exist.  And, no sooner than we leave then that bit of baggage we carried in begins to wheeze and goes limp, again.  Back into the dark corner it goes until another seven days has passed when we will pick it up and take it for another dose of the breath of worship.

That little gift didn’t come out very often in the earlier part of my life. 

I look upon the staff, the life staff, the music staff of my life, there was wasn’t much of a melody.  It was more like erratic percussion.  Oh, there are notes but no real enjoyable melody.  I begin to realize it hardly came out at all.  I can tell you when it did come out.  I can see when it happened at that point in time of my life.

The change is clear, a melody began, softly at first but with a distinct beat.  A constant beat which had a subtle driving energy.  It is quietly moving on, steadily with a melodic theme developing.  It builds into a long crescendo.  There were only single notes on the staff up until this time, now there is a broader development.  There is more music as other notes are added.

My soul, look my soul is no longer sitting limp.  The music is filling it up.  Wait.  Wait.  I am wrong.  My soul is not being filled by this music.  It is making the music.  It setting the beat.   It is developing the melody and the full harmony.  It is filling me up.  It is filling me with the music of life.  And as I realized the gift of my soul and as I feed my soul with all that I can with the worship of Heavenly Trinity, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Ghost, my music staff of life continues to build. 

This gift for my soul is filling me, the limp and neglected, was filling me. And I am being filled more and more as time continues. 

Let the music play.