life is a lot like music

Just like music, life's got rhythm. Sometimes it's steady; other times it's syncopated. Just like music, life's got its major, and minor notes too. There is dissonance and harmony, played just a few notes apart. Just like music, life's got times for a solo, and other times for a duet. And just like music, life's got different tempos. Some measures are adagio, others presto.

Everybody talks about life being bittersweet. Bitter and sweet. Sweet and bitter. The older I get, the more real this reality becomes, the more personal it gets. There certainly are major and minor notes 'played in the same measures' of life that sober me up and bring me to His throne of grace, where there is always a song to sing.

These words from the Valley of Vision are perfect. They speak of that which causes the sad heart to sing, and the happy heart to sing some more, and that is His grace.

"O Lord, forever will Thy free forgiveness live
that was gained on the mount of blood;
In the midst of a world of pain
it is a subject for praise in every place,
a song on earth, an anthem in heaven,
its love and virtue knowing no end.
I have a longing for the world above
where multitudes sing the great song,
for my soul was never created to love
the dust of earth.

Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor,
I shall go on singing Calvary's anthem.
May I always know
that a clean heart full of goodness
is more beautiful than the lily,
that only a clean heart can sing by night
and by day,
that such a heart is mine when I abide
at Calvary."