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This is just a late note about something that happened a couple weeks ago. But since it is still Christmas time it is worth posting.
Last year about this time we heard about a concert in a nearby town put on by the Coles County Barbershoppers. Since we have always enjoyed Barbershop music we were eager to enjoy some music in this part of the country that seems to us somewhat devoid of opportunities like this.
The concert was as good as we hoped for and after the concert my desires to once again be involved personally in music were again revived. As we passed through the handshake line with the many chorus members in the hall, I asked one of them how viable it was for me to join this chorus. Since I sing bass I figured that it might be quite likely they wouldn't have need for any more since it is so easy to find people that sing that part.
They encouraged me to just show up on a Tuesday night where they practice after the holiday break and start singing with them. That is exactly what I did starting in February of this year and have been enjoying the music ever since. This holiday season I was privileged to be able to join the chorus in two performances of their Christmas concert myself. While standing in the handshake line after the last concert I remarked to the man standing next to me that it was in this very line one year before that I had been inspired to join the chorus myself.
This has been a real blessing for me over the past year. This chorus is lead by a father-son team who are passionate about music and care about the men of this chorus from their heart. I have observed that this is more than simply a professional singing group. These are people that have been learning to be involved at a little deeper level of caring for each other than simply showing up and learning their part each week. While the directors can be very tough on us at times and sound very nit-picky, it is clear that they also realize the volunteer status of each person and they have a knack for inspiring us to want to blend our voices in ways superior to the average singing group. They believe in us and want us to discover that we can be better than we assume we are.
That is the kind of person I want to become much more than I have been. I have been learning just a little more about the God who believes in me far more than I have ever dared to do. To see this attitude in others in the way they treat me reminds me of my own need to believe in other people and see past their faulty performances to see what is latent in their heart. I want to perceive the inner beauty and potential in what appears to everyone else to be nothing but ugliness. I want to be an inspiration for someone who has never dared to believe in themselves. In short, I want to be a channel of hope and encouragement that ever flows from the heart of God.
