SENTINEL WATCH January 30, 2006 Issue

MUSIC ON TAP

BARBARA VINING

WHEN I WAS A KID, my neighbor's dad loved to go fishing. It gave him a refuge from the noise of society and the stress of daily life—a quiet place to "hear myself think," he said. Today's fisherman on a placid lake is likely to have his cellphone in his pocket, and to be listening to music via earplugs attached to an MP3 player.

Music, of course, can definitely provide solace from the constant barrage of troubling news and harsh sounds of modern living. Melody, harmony, rhythm, and lyrics can even inspire, uplift, and heal. But these can be found to an even greater degree in the solitude of quiet thought where music of another kind—the good news of God's love—can be heard from within. This "music" is on tap within consciousness, just waiting for a ready ear.

My concern (as I've seen time and again in my healing practice) is that many people today are so accustomed to being plugged into external stimuli that they avoid inner quietude as if it were something to fear. They think they'll simply be alone with their own thoughts—and that they won't know what to do with them. But that's a myth. No one is ever alone. God is infinite presence; and His Christ, His tender voice, is always speaking, even singing, to each person. And this loving Christ shows us how to think healing thoughts.

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