Many people go to their graves with God’s unplayed music still inside them.
My church handed out these devotionals a few weeks ago. I found this quote inside. I don’t know who wrote it. I only know that the words have stuck with me.
Let’s Talk: What does that quote mean to you? How can we play God’s music today?
*photo by shadowzelda3
To me, it means either the people were silent, which is one kind of tragedy, or they played their own music, which was not nearly as good as the heavenly sounds God could have brought from them.
This is very thought-provoking. I’ll stew on it for a while. It takes a lot of reflection and prayer to free God’s music from our own agendas and those of the people around us.
For me this means that too many die without having found the purpose they came here to experience. Without having used the talents they were given to create family, community, write stories, sing songs, run a marathon, surf His oceans or whatever. Too many people die without releasing God’s music that He put inside of them because of the judgments of others and of themselves. The shoulds in life stopping the freeing of their songs.
When I read the quote, I think of the many people who don’t tap into the gifts the Lord has given them. Many things can hold us back: fear, doubt, the expectation of others. In order to use the gifts we’ve been given, we’d be wise to connect with the Giver and let Him work in and through us. If we ask, He’s there to help us put our gifts to work and use them to bless others.
Powerful statement, Katie. I think on it frequently, with great sadness for those people, hoping not to be one of them.
It also begs this question: Would God give a gift that He didn’t want used?
We might say, “Of course not!” with our mouths but our actions speak what is really in our hearts.
Thanks for giving us much to think on, Katie!
This is a wonderful quote … one that makes me stop and think, “Am I one of those ‘many people’?”
I think this quote means that many people never discover who God meant them to be — who he created them to be.
This makes me think of the message in Ecclesiastes 3. There is an appointed time for everything, and God makes everything beautiful in its time. If there are those who go to their graves with God’s unplayed music still inside them, then perhaps they were not yet appointed to play it in this life. Maybe their music will be playing when God swallows up death in victory and wipes away the tears from all faces.
That’s my hope, anyway.
Love that quote. I’m afraid I bleat and sigh it out more often than I sing it gracefully. But at least I get it out.
I believe that quote is what it means to truly live.
~ Wendy
As a singer, this resonates with me a lot. I have music bursting inside of me. If I go long periods of time without singing, I go crazy. I long to sing. I itch to sing. Some people get annoyed with how much I sing. Music makes its way through my whole body, from the depths of my soul to the soles of my feet.
Essentially, I was made to sing.
If I kept that music in, I wouldn’t be who God made me to be. Life wouldn’t hold as much joy. Something would be missing, and my spirit would long for it. And that, right there, would be the greatest tragedy.
Of course, this can apply to anything God made you to do. I love this quote: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
I LOVE that quote, Lindsay!! Do you know who said it?
Howard Thurman. He was a theologian and author.
Being a musically wired person, I’m trying to read the sheet music in the picture to see if I recognize the tune! What an awesome quote. Our lives can truly serve as His symphony if we simply allow Him to conduct. Sometimes the baton goes up, sometimes it comes down. Oftentimes it goes side to side in ways we don’t expect (or like). Regardless, as long as we follow God’s beat, the beautiful orchestration of our lives reflecting His love and grace draws others to Him. Thanks so much for this today, Katie.
I am loving all these answers/thoughts/comments!
It’s interesting to think in terms of music, isn’t it? Even for somebody like me, who isn’t musically inclined, whatsoever. (Can we say tone-deaf?)
It’s an interesting metaphor. To think that God has music inside each of us, and some of us play it and some of us don’t.
So what does that music look like?
That’s such a cool quote. You know, I think sometimes it’s so easy to move forward in life without taking the time to simply ask God, “Is this really what you’ve got for me?” In other words, I am playing *your* music, or just…playing. I do think he gives us a whole heck of a lot of clues about what our individual songs sound like – our talents, our passions, they point us toward the song he has for us.
I think of the verse, sing a new song. Every task we do for His glory is like a beautiful melody- one he’s given each of us. Every note we play is a piece of our purpose and when the body of Christ is in unity it’s a glorious symphony ringing out with Jesus as our Great Conductor! I love the idea of being a beautiful melody reaching in and touching, moving others!
Great quote, Katie!
To me, it means that so many people aren’t using their spiritual gifts and therefore are leaving this world without all those blessings He could have given!
I spent so many…TOO MANY…years as a Sunday Christian. You know the type: those who go to church then do their own thing the rest of the week!
In 1999, that all changed for me when my former college roommate, Sydney Browning, was killed in the Wedgwood Baptist Church shootings. So many people spoke about her service to the Lord at her memorial. She was 36 yrs old.
After that, the Holy Spirit really convicted me to GET UP and GET BUSY serving the Lord with my gifts and talents!
Been busy ever since!
To me it means, without God we miss who we are supposed to be.
Beautiful quote, Katie!
Great quote.
I think it means that all too often, people don’t use the talents God has gifted them with, or if they do, they don’t use them in a way that glorifies Him. And, that we’re prone to following the beat of the world and not the beat of a different drum–of God’s drum (I just remembered I wrote a poem about that…hmm.).
Chazak,
– Hannah Mills
Katie I have a plaque on my office wall with a saying by Erma Bombeck: “When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I would have not a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’”
I love that quote and read it every day. I always encourages me to try new things and stretch myself. We never know what we can accomplish until we really try.
I have another plaque that says “Laugh until you tinkle in your panties!” That one reminds me that it’s okay to have fun along the way – and it does make me laugh!!