day 1:

Last night began our 12 day road trip. When we got in the car a little after 11:00pm and I asked my mom if she wanted some music to keep her awake and she said no it doesn’t matter. I responded by saying, “Oh yeah, music isn’t an emotional thing for you.” That caught her ear so she said, “Yeah, it’s not at all. It’s just music.” It’s just music?! That statement doesn’t make sense to me in the slightest. Music is something that God speaks to my heart with. Something that ties a memory so vividly together. Something that is so powerful that every culture has some form of it.

Its very interesting how differently my parents and I listen to music. I listen to music based on my emotion and what I’m doing because somehow, if I’m tired certain music picks me up. If I’m lonely, it brings me closer. If I’m ecstatic, it meets me there. My parents, on the other hand, just listen to music for the sake of having something to fill their ears. If they don’t like it or it’s too loud, they don’t want to hear it. I know that I usually don’t pay attention to the lyrics but the soul of the song is what grips me to listen to it more than one time around. Music for me is a gift. I don’t think that ‘good’ should be based on how many people like it. I think that a good song is when the soul of the artist pours out of the speakers. Even if I don’t know what they are saying, the instruments were placed together specifically to produce the energy for that song. That’s why I love to listen to music so loud that my car shakes with sound. That’s why God uses music as worship. That’s why people can come together across cultures. To feel the depths that are reached by music is like stepping into the heart of something bigger. I honestly thank God for the gift of music.