MUSIC - MEMORIES OF JOY IN OUR LIVES

 

I have always loved music and growing up with five older sisters and brothers (and two younger ones!), there was always some music blaring in the background during the day. I remember dancing as a little 3 or 4 year old kid to the song "LET'S DO THE TWIST" by Chubby Checker (YouTube video above) which I distinctly remember my late elder sister taught us. Oh what memories of laughter and innocent joy those family times were when I now think of it decades later! I wonder how many of you danced to it as a child and even years later like I did. :)

Even until today, when I hear the songs of the Beatles, Temptations, Chubby Checkers, I remember my early childhood days...days when playing did not mean computer war games - it meant playing dress-up (trying on my elder siblings' clothes, costume jewelry and my Mum's perfumed talc powder and perfume and heeled footwear) one moment, cycling around the housing estate....and climbing up and jumping down from trees like Superman the next. Our best friends were the neighbourhood kids. We would run and play from one house to another. No one was a stranger in our neighbourhood. Different songs will be blaring loud from different homes in different languages - well, that was truly a time when Malaysian life was simple and all races lived happily without racial undertones being exploited by politicians.    

I am sure for many of my friends from my high school who like me had gone to Canada and USA for studies remember the songs and videos that electrified the world like the THRILLER video of  Michael Jackson which was played on MTV endlessly - and we all remained glued to the TV each time it was played...as well as his  BILLIE JEAN and BEAT IT videos. Michael Jackson broke all racial barriers and became a worldwide sensation. For youths like me all over the world, it was a decade in which we had great hopes of our future - that nothing could stop us! Even now, we can listen to songs and remember at what period in our life we heard it. At the end of each term - there were end-term parties where we all danced with joy that we had passed our exams and our dreams to be working adults was becoming closer. 

Music is like a joyful, gentle yet deep touch of God in our heart. I cannot imagine a world without music. Music has brought the world together. I distinctly remember Bob Geldof's  inspiring BAND AID effort, the hauntingly conscience-awakening song - "DO THEY KNOW IT IS CHRISTMAS?" charity single sung by top British and Irish musicians to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia during Christmas 1984. This song became the biggest selling single in UK Singles Chart history - selling 1 million copies in the first week alone. It went on to remain as the No. 1 in the UK SIngles Chart until 1997 - an amazing 13 years! I will never forget BAND AID as I was in my final year as a Business Administration student majoring in Marketing Management.  I wanted to do something positive and fulfilling that made a difference to the world. My heart was already by then awakened by Blessed Pope John Paul II's visit to Toronto in 1984 (please refer to my link: 03 May 2011 blog post). It was in this period of my life in the 1980s  - more  than any decade - when I knew in my heart, I wanted to contribute meaningfully to  our world. I did not know how but that is when the seed of "humanitarian effort" in my heart was planted. I wanted to be a "global" citizen for the world is ours. I did not want to just make an individual effort but hoped to also encourage and inspire others to take a worldview. I was always happy to contribute to fund-raising efforts by people from all walks of life and faith - for it is a life that is important not what faith one practices. Below is the YouTube video of "DO THEY KNOW IT IS CHRISTMAS?" sung during LIVE AID in July 1985.

My life remained in this mode where my career was my all-encompassing goal. I was blessed to travel to many parts of the world - working with so many different nationalities. It remained as such until my first retreat in Divine in 1998. After that, a group of friends and I in Singapore decided to be pro-active through a prayer group we had formed to help overseas mission work as well as to pray together once a month. in 2004, I came to serve fulltime here in India. It has not been easy and many times I realize the wonderful Grace God has given me to serve here all these years despite my preference before for a totally different lifestyle. Life here is different. No one will understand community life unless they have lived through it. There is no way to explain it - one has to live it to experience it!

One of the greatest joys I have in my life here in Divine is the time of prayer and the Praise & Worship during the retreats held here. So many hymns have touched, moulded and transformed my heart. I have felt great joy, hope, courage and even pain and sorrow - all through the beautifully inspired lyrics - as St. Augustine of Hippo said, "When one sings, one prays twice." I love working in my office and singing to my favourite Christian hymns on the YouTube after midnight. I often find great inspiration for my work in these hours when  my heart is soothed and my spirit lifted up by the touching hymns. Whenever I am feeling down or stressed, it is these quiet moments of music where I can sing to my heart's content that makes my life seem brighter!

There is one hymn that has truly touched my heart these past few months - "THIS IS THE AIR I BREATHE". Each time, it was sung during the the weekly retreat's  Inner Healing session during the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, I have wept and felt intense emotions as I sang it. I have never felt closer to God. How can a song pierce through the deepest layers of my heart like this? I believe God is all around us in nature, in people, in us and also in music. When I lay my  heart bare to God, the Holy Spirit, touches me deep within to speak to God of my heart's desire and to know in return God's special message just for me! 

My  wish for all of you is that your lives will always be filled with beautiful meaningful music - to enrich your heart  and to strengthen your soul. So who says, God does not speak to each of us? Let us learn to worship and praise God with hymns each day.

Below is the YouTube music video - "THIS IS THE AIR I BREATHE " by Hillsong. I suggest you turn out the light, switch off your mobile, quieten your heart with some bible meditations in a candle-lit room and let this hymn touch your heart too...God is with us!