Make a Joyful Noise

My mom says that when I was little I was always singing. She says I used to "wake up" singing. I have always had a song in my heart, and frequently find myself humming or singing a song without ever realizing it (until, of course someone kindly points it out). My very favorite place to sing is, and always has been, church. Maybe this started with the idea that my mom planted in my heart at a very young age. She told me that when you sing, you "pray twice" - that it's the most powerful form of worship.

As a single young woman, I sometimes felt lonely being at church by myself, but singing the mass responses with strangers always made me feel like a part of something intimate. I remember visiting my sister when she was working in Springfield, Ill. shortly after she graduated from college. It was such a deep, replenishing feeling to sit beside her and to hear our voices blending together. I've never told any of my family this, but singing next to them in church always touches me beyond belief and it's when I sometimes feel closest to them; especially to my dad, who rarely attends mass but when he does, he sings right out loud, dead on pitch, and a whole octave lower than everybody else.

When I first went to church with Husband (back when we were dating), I thought he was only singing to impress me. Little did I know! Here is THE THING I love the most about him (besides the fact that he's a wonderful father and husband): he sings loud and he sings every single song and response like it's coming from the bottom of his heart. Now, he's not really what one would call a "singer", but that doesn't stop him. A woman I met in church today gave me the perfect phrase to describe Husband (she was talking about her son, actually): he makes a "joyful noise". How true, and how perfect for a man who has a twinkle in his eye and knows how to make lemonade with life's lemons. This morning at mass, my heart welled up - as it does many a Sunday morning - to see our two handsome little boys (actually behaving!) clapping along while Stephen belted out "Lord of the Dance". Life just doesn't get any better than that.

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
Psalm 98:4