Rejoice and Praise

Reflections on faith, hope, and the quiet journey with Christ

In my mind’s eye, whenever I sing, I imagine God hearing my voice joined with the praise and worship of all His angels rising before Him.

Reality, however, is much quieter—and much more human.

Whenever I raise my voice in church, I usually feel a gentle nudge from my daughter.

“Shhh, Mom.”

Apparently, I am spectacularly off-key. My voice cracks and croaks like a frog. Not exactly pleasing to the human ear.

Then there are the moments when I have my earbuds in. The music fills my heart, and I forget that the rest of the world can still hear me. I sing with complete confidence, convinced I sound beautiful, only to realize later that I have been joyfully belting out a string of wonderfully tone-deaf notes.

My son simply looks over with that familiar expression—the one that says, Mom… really?

What a wonder it is to know that God does not measure by the same scale.

To Him, my cracked, off-key offering is not noise.

It is the song of a heart that loves Him.

Sometimes I like to imagine that He hears the angels singing through me.

I love writing praise and worship songs.

As I write, I hear the melodies. I feel the harmonies. The music lives inside me long before it ever reaches my voice. My outer self may wander off-key, but my inner self sings with confidence.

Somewhere deep within, I believe I sing like an angel.

So I keep writing songs that, I pray, are worthy of His presence.

God loves me despite my terrible vocals.

Perhaps that is one of the quiet miracles of grace.

The world may hear an off-key voice.

God hears a willing heart.

And in His ears, my songs are beautiful.

Perhaps that is why Scripture tells us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord (Psalm 100:1).

It does not say to make a perfect sound.

Only a joyful one.

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