Let Everything That Has Breath...

The other day, I was sitting out on my back deck with my wife, grilling some chicken... enjoying a clear, chilly October afternoon in the Northwest. We sat quietly, listening to the wind in the trees, the crows squawking, birds chirping, dogs barking, kids playing, cars on the road beyond the woods behind our home, a siren, the sizzle of the chicken on the grill, the clinking of the ice in our glasses, my wife's beautiful voice as she spoke to me... and it struck me that everything is music. Everything creates noise at a certain pitch, and in a certain rhythm, at a certain volume... Don't believe me?

Well... What is music?

Here's the Wikipedia entry... Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture.

Think about it... just because we don't recognize the sound as 'musical' doesn't mean that all the stuff around us is not creating music. We may not recognize the notes, or the rhythm as music, but that's because we simply don't know the key or time signature, or the instrumentation. But if you were to analyze the sounds, I'm sure you could notate it.

So, maybe the noise we hear in our backyards doesn't qualify as "art," but then again, maybe it does... God certainly plays a part in the orchestration of the earth's noise. God created it all... He created rhythm and time, He created voice boxes and wind and breath, He created the frequencies and timbres, He also created rest and silence... He created us in His image... the Creator God created creative children... and whether we are musical or not, music runs through the veins of every culture.

Music is simply one of the most powerful ways that we've been given to express ourselves and our emotions. It's no wonder that we utilize this outlet, this tool, this gift to give praise to our Creator God!

Join in on the sound...

Matt