by Barbara Chadwick
The character, Stephanie,
in the movie Let It Snow said, “I don’t know the words to a single Christmas
carol.” Her mother died when she was
six and her father quit celebrating Christmas. Of course, that was just a movie
but the sad thing is that there are so many people in the world who race
through life and don’t stop to hear or sing the music. Music speaks to the
heart in a very special way.
On Thanksgiving day we
were with extended family and friends. We
had an abundance of food and, of course, family stories. Kenneth’s niece
remembered that her father’s mother had Alzheimer’s and couldn’t remember much
but one holiday the oldest daughter suggested to the mother that she play the organ. The
mother went to the organ and played hymns that she had sung all her life. Most
of the family didn’t even know she could play because her husband had sold her
organ when times were tough and she never played after that. She had never
forgiven him.
I told them about my aunt,
Nellie, who had Alzheimer’s and didn’t even know her sisters. But one day when
my own sisters and I took my mother to visit Nellie, we began to sing hymns. Nellie
sang all the words with a smile on her face. I watched with tears streaming down my face.
The music stayed in the
minds of these two women because it was a part of the heart and soul. God put
it there. From the time we’re in the womb we respond to music.
God put a song in our
hearts. The Psalmist, David, said often: Sing a new song to him, play the harp with
skill, and shout for joy! Psalm 33:3
By the way, at the end of
the movie Stephanie tells her dad, “I love
singing Christmas carols.”
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