Music That I Love

My sister, Niki Lott, and I spent over an hour on the phone today. One of our topics of conversation was music! Imagine that!:) I love music!! I have a long-standing love and appreciation for all kinds of music. This can be both a good and bad thing in my life and one I have to watch out for!

I will be going through a store and will catch myself singing along to whatever is coming over the speakers and I finally notice what I am doing and many times hope no one has heard me! I don’t even know the songs and I will still catch myself singing along in harmony. Please, you don’t have to tell me. I already know I am crazy. Such is a life when you just passionately love music!

Niki and I both share a passion for music and today’s conversation was not an unusual one for us. We were burdened many years ago to get conservative music into the hands of people and so we started Christian Compositions. The Lord has used us to write many songs and be able to put them into print. We are very thankful for how God has blessed in this area. I don’t want this blog to be about my opinion about what type of music ought to be in the church because I am not your pastor and that is for him to decide before the Lord. This post is just my opinion about the music in my life.

Having said all of that, I want to share with you some of my thoughts about music. Please realize that I said these are my thoughts and do not necessarily reflect the exact thoughts of my sister. I will gladly let her share her own and would not dare to speak for her. I think Colossians 3:16 puts in a big picture what I think music is for. It says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

First of all, I believe music is there to teach and admonish us. That means, that the music I listen to is teaching me something, or counseling me against a wrong practice. It is my personal opinion after teaching teenagers for many years, that if I could change their music, much of their attitude issues. Teens LOVE music and pop teen music is full of teenager philosophy. Therefore, teens get a strong education in how they are to act and think. I am very much affected by music and I am not a teenager any more! There are many styles of music that I like, but they do not like me because they are teaching me things that are contrary to what God thinks about things. If God says to love one another, I don’t need to listen to a music style that is full of hate and anger. If God wants me to have a strong marriage, I do not need to listen to music that leads my mind in thoughts that I should not be having about the opposite sex. All music teaches something. When you listen to music, ask yourself what the words are actually saying and see what it is teaching or feeding you. Every new song I come across, I always ask myself this question.

Secondly, I believe music was created to encourage us. The Bible tells us in II Samuel that David encouraged himself in the Lord. I find it interesting that David was an extremely talented musician and song writer. So much so, that the King of Israel hired him as a young boy to come and play for him. Listen, you have to be pretty good to get hired as the kingdom musician. The Bible doesn’t say specifically, but reading all the Psalms (which are songs) that David wrote, I am pretty sure that David used music to encourage himself. Yes, he knew it was the Lord that He was crying out to, but He cried unto the Lord through his music. He let it express his heart. If you are a musician, you know exactly what I am talking about. When I feel discouraged or am fighting off the blues, I always turn on music.

Lastly, let me say that because of the power of encouragement that music holds, it also holds the power of discouragement. Because of that, and because Philippians 4:8 tells me to think on good things, I choose music that encourages me. That narrows down a WHOLE lot of music for me. There is so much music out there that is just so sad and dark. I’m sorry, but I don’t want that in my life. I think some Christian songs can even fall in discouraging category. If all I can sing about is how sorrowful this ole’ life down here on earth is…then where is the encouragement in that? Unless, of course, I just go ahead and die and be done with it all. No thanks!

I can find encouraging music beyond just Christian songs and it is not teaching me anything negative or contrary to God. Nothing can swell my heart quicker and lift my spirit then a beautiful patriotic song! I love sweet, sentimental love songs. Would I sing them in church? No way! But a song that encourages faithfulness and true love can only help my marriage – not hurt it. My hubby loves for me to sing him these songs! I love singing silly songs with my little ones. These songs have nothing to do with Jesus – unless you sing The Wheels on the Church Bus! They are happy songs though and the giggles that ensue sure make me feel good! I love to clean my house to happy music that makes you want to tap your toes! I love Christmas music that makes my heart that much more full of the sights and smells of Christmas. I love classical musicians that can run chills up my spine to hear the pure beauty of the human voice. I love mountain music as it brings me back to where I grew up and how we loved to sit around a tree and play the guitars and mandolins!

“Let music fill your life but just make sure that you are using it to your advantage and not the other way around. Let it teach you sweet things and let it encourage you!” These would be the words of some simple advice from a gal who loves music!