Usually when I give up something in my life, it takes me a good week or so (or never) to start learning lessons from it. Giving up secular music, while to most it sounds simple and easy, has proven opposite already.
Yesterday was my first day listening to Christian music only. First thing when I walked into work, I noticed one of my friends sitting on a chair with headphones in. He smiled, took off his headphones and just said "Michael Buble." I'm not sure, but I think a small tear welled up in my eye. I love Michael Buble. I can't even write his name without starting to sing his songs.
Something I noticed, which I didn't realize until later in the day, is that I had almost listened to no music at all. That's not really the effect I was hoping to have. And music is such a part of my life, that I found myself in a little bit of a funk. My boss even asked me if I was okay or if Paul and I were fighting. I laughed inside to myself when I thought about it and thought how stupid I would sound if I said, "No, I just miss my music". Jeepers! I found myself trying to talk myself into staying a little bit longer at Mr. Goodcents on my Valentine's date with my son because a good song was playing over the radio there. And I even caught myself bobbin' my head to a beat during a timeout of a college basketball game we were watching together. Sick.
When making my "40 Days House Mix" for Lent on Spotify, I realized just how much "other" music I have on my playlists. It took a little bit of time for me to get my list together to listen to over the next 40 days, both a workout mix and the house mix. That's embarrassing. But after a little bit of work, I've started my list with about 50 songs on one list, and 14 on the other. Big news, yes?
There's something very unique about Christian music that's hard to explain. When I listen to other music, I can truly enjoy the music...the beat, the tune, the lyrics, the feel...just all of it is interesting to me. I can hear a good song and appreciate it to it's fullest until the next song. But with Christian music, I find myself wanting to replay one song over and over. And when I finally allow myself to go to the next song, I listen to that one over and over again.
Christian music, to me, is much the same as the Christian life. The secular music can be good and fun and enjoyable but at the end of the day, it's just music. Christian music, on the other hand, is inspiring. It's life changing. When I hear someone sing about what God has done in their life, how He has changed them, redeemed them, or how they don't know how to live the Christian life they want to, I can relate to it and I find it fulfilling in my soul, not just in my ears and mind.
I had an unexpected blessing today to be able to stay home with my son who's sick. I took the opportunity to spend some time cleaning. There's one thing I always do when I clean, something my sister and I used to always do together when we would clean. Turn on all the lights in the house and crank the music. With each room that gets cleaned, the light gets to get shut off. So that's what I did today. And I was jamming out to some amazing Christian music today.
I was cleaning so furiously that I even tore apart my espresso machine at home and cleaned it up. Scrubbed it. As I am cleaning the water drainage bin, I smiled when I saw a sign that said "Empty me"...it shows up when it's full of water and it's time to be emptied. After that, I saw a red light illuminated on the machine, letting me know that it was time to clean the portafilter. "Clean me" is what is written above the light. I don't need to give up caffeine to get the message that my music and espresso machine has already taught me during this Lent season.
Why am I listening only to Christian music? For no other reason:
GOD, EMPTY ME.
FATHER, CLEAN ME.
When distracted by the messages of the world, what God is trying to say to me is muffled and what He is trying to teach me is blurred. When I am empty and clean (and focused), the word of God for my life finds so much more clarity in my mind. So, for today, I'm sharing a YouTube video of Jeremy Camp performing Live "Empty Me". Fitting, huh? Check it out here if you wanna.
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