Moody and Musical

Have you ever noticed how different music affects your moods? Or how our mood will make different genres more or less appealing.

Ladies, why, when we are about to be visited by Aunt Flo, do we choose to listen to Cinderella by Stephen Curtis Chapman, Best Day by Taylor Swift or that song that Sis. So-n-so sang at dear Granny's funeral? We know good and well that it will incapacitate us to the point that the only thing we could possibly do is put on pajamas, lock the kids in their room, pull out an economy sized tub of our favorite ice cream, and/or a family sized pan of brownies and/or jar of Peter Pan and/or ridiculously huge cup of milk and peruse old photo albums and/or greeting cards from our wedding and/or illness and/or birthdays and/or children's births.

What about when we are mad? I go straight to the loud angry girl bands like Letters to Cleo or any kind of music my parents would have frowned on while I lived at home. That'll show them... whoever "them" is at that moment, right? Do we really think that will help us calm down and be rational?

Every Spring I find myself wanting to listen to bouncy happy music like Michael Buble or Colbie Caillat. Listening to happy, feel good music seems to make the new blossoms prettier and the new grass greener. It seems to compliment the smell of newly mowed grass and blooming fruit trees in the air.

Then, of course, every Fall... the time of bonfires and falling leaves... I just HAVE to pull out the Dixie Chicks album - Wide Open Spaces and Tim McGraws Greatest Hits. I don't know why, but country music just goes hand in hand with Fall in my brain!

God is so amazing how he created music, despite the ugly turn the chief musician took. Then He programmed humans, particularly us ladies, as emotional beings that can respond in such a strong way to music. Because the thing He knew was how that when we are feeling like we might lose our faith or feeling like giving up on [insert problematic relationship here] we can put in some Desperation Band or Hillsong. Or if you're old school (or feeling old school) you select some Wash Me by John P. Kee, Glory to Glory by Fred Hammond, -again- Hold My Mule by Shirley Caesar, God is Here by Martha Munizzi or He's Been Faithful by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and the lyrics can speak calm into your internal struggle. God's presence is ushered in and embraces you and your emotions are calmed. God knows how real and overwhelming things can feel when our emotions and/or hormones get all riled up and has provided such a simple tool for us to be able to feel comfort. I'll be honest, things have occurred in my life and the promises in the Bible feel empty and provide little/no comfort; my prayers feel like they are bouncing back down to me... oh... but when I put in some old choir that speaks to me, the Comforter wraps around me in a way that defies reason. It's like I'm being told, "I'm right here," the same way I tell my 4 year old when she wakes up, afraid, in the night.

Time and again, I'm smacked in the face with the realization that my Creator truly knows me, His creation... like it's a surprise. -lol- It may sound silly, but I'm so thankful today for the many facets of music and the way it enriches my life!