Does this happen to you too?

You look forward to a special day. You plan for it. Anticipate how it will be. Prepare. Maybe you travel to where your special day will take place.

Then the day comes. It’s lovely.

Now it’s over, and here comes the let-down.

While Bruce and I were driving back from our Thanksgiving celebration in Illinois, I felt the emotion.

In an effort to get out of the emotional funk we both felt, we discussed all the fun things we’d done, the people we’d seen.

But the sad feeling wouldn’t go. Now, I know that in time we’ll both bounce back and feel chipper again.

To cheer ourselves, we turned on the radio and sang along with the holiday music, made funny voices, sang off-key, did the head bang thing and “danced.”

But after a while the songs began to repeat, and it wasn’t so fun anymore.

“Hey, I know,” Bruce said. “Open the hymnbook on the i-pad.”

I scrolled through the contents and selected hymns we both knew well. Christmas carols, hymns about the resurrection, hymns about prayer, praise songs, hymns about the love of Jesus.

How can a believer stay sad after Thanksgiving when you sing these phrases?:

1. “No one ever cared for me like Jesus.”
2. “While by the sheep we watched at night, glad tidings brought an angel bright. How great our joy!”
3. “The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell.”
4. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
5. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”

Yes, listening to music is great. But something powerful happens when we fully engage in the physical, emotional, and spiritual act of singing praises.

Recently I’ve added praise songs and hymns to my morning time with the Lord. The words and music focus my mind on Him, fills me with thankfulness,

and prepares me to be receptive to what God will communicate while I’m reading the Word or praying.

You don’t have to have a great voice to do this. I don’t.

Open your mouth and sing.

But be prepared. I think the Lord enjoys our worship so much that He sometimes hugs us in mid-song…and takes our breath away!

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord…”( Eph. 5:19 NIV Bible)