Music and Life

As I wrestled with my latest round of "trying to make sense out of life," the metaphor of music seemed particularly fitting. I want to find a way to turn it into a pithy statement, but for now at least writing out what I'm thinking is probably a good start. Otherwise I may end up with this [potentially] great idea that I can't remember while I'm trying to figure out how to say it. That has sadly happened far too often.

The idea is that our lives are like a piece of music, an opus, a song. Of course "Mr. Holland's Opus" has already explored this theme. But the thought I had is that life sometimes strikes discordant chords, notes that don't seem to go together. And at the end, the last chord may not resolve.

One of our worship leaders loves to do this. He'll play an entire song, and at the end he won't play the last chord. It drives me completely bananas. I'll either play the base note on my bass guitar, or I'll have to sing it. Lack of resolution drives me bananas! It is particularly fitting to me that after I began writing this blog, my son went into the family room and began playing his festival piece on our piano. Some of his notes are off, his timing is flawed, and I wait impatiently for the resolution of the song. And for a moment, I want to run into the family room and yell, "Son, you're playing my song -- please get it right."

Meanwhile, he plunks along, oblivious to my inner torment. I don't suppose I would want him to know any better.