Reflection -- A Melody in the Heart

When I was a child, time seemed to be a commodity in endless supply.  Filling up my time with something meaningful seemed an impossible task.  “Mom, there’s nothing to do!”  Even when I began to grow into adolescence and early adulthood, there was a sense that life was stretched out before me in endless vistas. 

As years rolled by I became aware that my childhood perceptions were a delusion.  Time is precious.  That kind of realization makes us begin to start digging into the meaning of it all.  Why are we here?  Is there something to do to make our brief moments in time count for something?

The author of today’s passage wants us to be aware that our time is limited and to urge us to make the very best use of it.  Amidst some of the negative warnings, there is a positive clue to what really makes our lives worthwhile.  The life that makes a real difference for both the person living it and for those whom his or her life touches is the life filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Perhaps you have had a picture of what that kind of life is like in a worship experience when you were aware of a deep sense of God’s presence.  At such times, the problems of the moment fade as you catch brief glimpses of time from God’s eternal prospective and realize that today’s trouble is only a temporary shadow.  There may even be a fleeting sense of the presence of those who have struggled and found meaning for their lives in the things of God long before we were here.  There can be an electricity in the air as we “sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among ourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in our hearts, giving thanks to God for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  At such times we know that all things really are possible!

There are many distractions every day that draw us away from the transforming core of life, but time is short and we have none to waste.  What makes it count is placing our priority on seeking a life filled with the Spirit.  A key to attaining such a life is, as best we can, living day to day as we do in the worship experience; “remembering to give thanks to God for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God longs for us to have the transforming power of the Spirit present not just in worship, but all of the time.  A life of praise, even when life is pressing in on all sides, is what makes it possible to live with a lasting melody in our hearts. 

revclay

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Ephesians 5:15-20

Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.  So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 [NRSV]