“We can set our deeds to the music of grateful heart, and see to round our lives into a hymn—the melody of which will be recognized by all who come in contact with us, and the power of which shall not be evanescent, like the voice of the singer, but perennial, like the music of the spheres.”
William Mackergo Taylor (1829–1895) an American Congregationalist minister in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 886.
I am flying today. From Chicago to Denver, then back to Washington Dulles. When I fly I listen to music on my iPhone, but today’s reading let me to think about what music my life makes. What do people hear as they “listen” to the hymn of my life?
If we want to change the tune of our lives, Jesus (and likely Taylor) would say, have a grateful heart. Lord, give us grateful hearts, so that people don’t hear us, the singer, but hear You through us.