I firmly believe that music is the cry and the call of the heart.

I really love a beautiful song called “Simple Song” by Better than Ezra. It starts like this:

Floating off adrift through outer space

High above the ruins of a suicidal race

When somewhere from below there came a song.

And suddenly a chorus rang in unison, their voices ringing out…

And they sang a simple song.

The melody is growing strong.

And everyone can sing along.

‘Cause somehow everybody needs a melody that they can call their own.

-Better than Ezra

The song goes on from there. It’s beautiful, if you’ve never listened.

It makes me think of one particular character of mine, Bennie. But that’s not surprising, as Bennie encapsulates hope in my mind.

It also makes me think of the role music has played in my life, lifting me up and inspiring me.

I cannot sing, at all, but I LOVE music–hymns and psalms, love songs, music that makes me think of my characters . . . all of it.

God knew what he was doing when He made the prayer book of the Bible a song book. One of the great blessings of my life was the number of the psalms I naturally memorized in religious formation simply by praying the Divine Office in community.

I love how the human heart takes each psalm and truly makes it its own.

And when I think how something like the theme of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings can make me cry, every time . . . it’s an amazing gift.

Music is wonderful. Let good music inspire hope in your heart.