I swiped a piece of choir
music from my folder a couple weeks ago.
I slid it into my purse after we finished practicing it, and of course I
forgot about it for a couple days.
Thankfully, I didn’t spill coffee inside my purse before finding it; I’ve
done that before. The worst that
happened is it got a little wrinkly, so it’s going to get “pressed” tonight
between a couple volumes of Luther’s Works.
So why have I begun a life of thievery, looting
my choir folder on Wednesday nights? There’s this one song we’re working on and
I just LOVE the words and really want to share them with a friend. I tried to find the lyrics online so I could just
send her that, but no luck.
Hence, one dark, cold February night, racked with guilt, I snuck out of
practice with the goods in my purse.
(Melissa and Sandy… I
have every intention of returning the music tomorrow :)
The words spoke to me
from the very first time we sang them.
They’re about thanking and praising God wherever you are in life,
whatever you’re experiencing, the highest of highs or the lowest of lows. Some
days I’m on a major high when we sing it, so excited about the future, and I
just belt it out. Some days I’m in a
major slump, feeling defeated and alone, and my voice cracks and my eyes well
up and there’s not a whole lot of volume coming from the alto section. Some days I’m all over the place, and I’ll be
crying the first time we sing it and smiling so hard it hurts the fourth time
we sing it.
It makes me think about
Job, the guy who REALLY experienced the highest of highs (or so he thought),
and then the lowest of lows, and then all he had lost was graciously restored
by God and he was blessed even more greatly than he could ever have imagined before.
It makes me think about
my amazing husband and the huge blessing he has been in my life. The “lows” as I searched for him and
made some mistakes and acted all high-school-girl-crazy. It makes me think about my dear friends who
are still searching and waiting. How
sometimes during that search you feel on top of the world, independent,
invincible, and how sometimes you just feel unbelievably rotten.
It makes me think about
the blessing of my parents and brothers and in-laws and my beautiful nephew and
all my wonderful extended family and those special friends who understand me SO
well, I am baffled that we’re not somehow related. Sometimes we laugh so hard we cry and our abs
hurt the next day. We say crazy things
and share inside jokes and talk in silly voices that only family can
understand. But sometimes we make each
other cry and worry and scream. The more you love, the more you can hurt. And when
one of us is taken away from this earth, it is absolutely the lowest, most awful
feeling.
It makes me think about
our adoption journey, all the excitement and anticipation and giddiness. All the impatience and sadness and fear. Definitely some major highs and lows. It makes me think about people I know who
have had adoptions fall through. People
I know who have experienced the devastating low of miscarriage. People I know who have ugly, aching,
unanswered questions about why NOW is not God’s time for their family to start.
And boy, oh, boy does it make me think about the highs and lows to come as a parent, and countless friends experiencing those now. From what I understand, and it better be true because quite a few of my hopes and dreams depend upon it, becoming, and BEING a parent is one of the single greatest highs this world has to offer. And from what I've read in frustrated Facebook posts... what I've seen in temper tantrums at Wal-Mart and in church and at bedtime... what I absolutely know is coming because a) we all have a sinful nature, and b) children are irrational... parenting also offers some exhausted, desperate, puked-upon lows.
And boy, oh, boy does it make me think about the highs and lows to come as a parent, and countless friends experiencing those now. From what I understand, and it better be true because quite a few of my hopes and dreams depend upon it, becoming, and BEING a parent is one of the single greatest highs this world has to offer. And from what I've read in frustrated Facebook posts... what I've seen in temper tantrums at Wal-Mart and in church and at bedtime... what I absolutely know is coming because a) we all have a sinful nature, and b) children are irrational... parenting also offers some exhausted, desperate, puked-upon lows.
It makes me think about
SO many things that I am going through, that I have gone through, and that the
people I love have experienced. Life
truly is a rollercoaster. I’m pretty
good about praying during the highs and the lows. My prayer life needs a lot of work when I’m “coasting.”
And this song reminds me of that… praise God ALL THE TIME!
And this song REALLY
makes me think about my friend, Rachel, who really needs it this week. She and her husband are prospective adoptive
parents, but they’re going about it a little differently than Tim and I
are. They’re providing interim foster
care for babies. Many of the babies will
not be up for adoption; they just need a loving, caring home while mom and dad
get it together, or as “together” as they need to for the state to allow the
baby to come home. One day, amazingly,
God will place a baby in their home that WILL be theirs to keep. But, like us, they struggle with anxious questions about when that day will come.
And while they wait, they give all of their love and then some to these babies
who can only be in their arms a short while, but will be in their hearts
forever. This week, their first baby
goes “home.” I struggle to call it “home” because Rach and Ryan have had the
baby since he was 2 days old, and before that I’m assuming he was in the
hospital. Theirs is the only "home" he’s
known.
So, Rach, these words are
for you especially. Praise God at your
highest… praise Him at your lowest… and know that He will fill your heart and
your hands once again.
Raise Your Hands
Words and Music by
Heather Sorenson
2011 Hal Leonard
Corporation
(I have absolutely no
idea what other information about the song I have to include in order to not
get in trouble, so I’m going to just roll the dice and go with that)
Raise your hands
when you’re high upon the mountain,
and you know that you’ve been blessed.
Raise your hands
when you start your day with nothing,
and you end with even less.
Raise your hands
to the One who gives us everything,
yet He shines in emptiness.
Raise your hands
when you’re offering up the sacrifice
that you want to claim as yours.
Raise your hands,
reaching up to heaven,
when your heart’s bowed to the floor.
Raise your hands,
trusting in the grace of God
that has carried you before.
I will lift my hands to
You, and bless Your name forever.
I will lift my hands to
You, and bless Your holy name.
Raise your hands
when your heart is full of worship,
and your songs are filled with praise.
Raise your hands
when the battle ends in victory
and God’s glory is ablaze.
Raise your hands.
Let the earth shout, “Hallelujah!”
and the people shout, “Amen!”
Raise your hands,
and the hands that have been emptied,
God will fill them once again.
Raise your hands.
