Harmony Rings

Harmony Rings began simply as my online user name for You Tube and then various other web sites. I chose it because musical harmony appeals to me both as a listener and as a singer. However, as I ponder the name I realize that it penetrates much deeper that what the ear can perceive.

As a child of God I desire for my life's song to be a harmony in God's great symphony. As I work together with my brothers and sisters in Christ the part I am playing should compliment theirs, and we should all be meticulously in tune with God's word. At times I may be asked to play a lead and I pray that I will play it well. At other times my part will be almost undetectable to the world, but I know that it is important to my Father's perfect arrangement and I ask him to help me to execute it with precision. There may be times when my function in the score will be to rest. I pray that I will do it effectively and come back in right on beat. Much of the time I will be playing right along with the other musicians in the symphony of life called the church, and every note I produce should blend well with the other notes in the song.

In 1 Corinthians 12 we read:

¹⁴Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

As I consider the application to music and to my life I could ask, "if the alto should say, 'because I am not a soprano, I do not belong to the choir,' would she for that reason cease to be part of the choir?" Or "if the baritone should say, 'because I am not a tenor, I do not belong to the choir,' would he for that reason cease to be part of the choir? "Each voice has value and we should all praise God for giving us a part to sing in His song.

Verse 26 reminds us that ^"If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." Sometimes a member of the group will be out of tune or make a mistake or be unable to preform because of an illness. When that happens the whole choir is affected. If one member is singing out of tune others may follow. If one member is in error the whole company sounds bad. If one member becomes ill the others will miss and grieve for their fellow musician.

Thankfully the Master Composer has a plan to rescue us from our discord. He knows that none of us is perfect so he sent his perfect Son Jesus to sing a flawless song. Jesus was punished for our imperfections and payed the penalty we deserve. But because his song was perfect He was restored to his proper place at the Great Conductor's right hand. Now if we will trust in him he will cover all of our mistakes with his blamelessly beautiful music.* "So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:28)

So you see, all of life's a song and I want mine to ring with beautiful harmonies. Praise be to God for sending Jesus to tune my heart and transform my life song.

*If you do not yet know Jesus as your Savior please ask me to explain this more clearly.