Blessed by Good Friends

Ever have one of those days...or weeks...or months... when it seems like the world is crashing around you and you feel helpless to do anything about it? I know all of us have had them...maybe even lots of them to the point of almost breaking... or maybe even beyond breaking. Without going into details... while this wasn't a...what did that one children's book author say?...horrible, awful, terrible no good day... it wasn't really great either. Any time I can spend a bit of time with my son is a good day and I could do that for a short time today. But sometimes when you get those glimpses of light, when it's over the darkness seems even darker. OK... don't stop reading yet, I'm really not trying to depress you, too. By the end of the afternoon I seemed to be in a psychic fog, one of those moments when you just want to go to bed, pull up the covers and shut out the world. But I couldn't... I had to be at the nursing home to sing with the choir with our monthly music ministry outreach. Just when I thought I'd call someone and tell them to go ahead and sing without me I remembered I had the hymnals for the choir in the back of my van. Darn. So I took a deep breath, said a prayer and headed out.
The wonderful thing about God is, God always knows how to give you what you need...and I needed to be at the nursing home singing with the choir... no... singing with my friends. Singing always cheers me up and touches me in a way nothing else can. Seeing these frail, wise, faithful folks with soft voices singing along with us and the smiles on their faces as they recognize the old hymns...the tears in their eyes for whatever memories they may invoke... it's a grace-filled moment of time. And, even if I do say so myself, we make pretty good music together. Not only that... one choir member said (quoting Scarlet O'Hara), "Just go to bed tonight... tomorrow is another day." And we sang words like "what a friend we have in Jesus...is there trouble anywhere? Take it to the Lord in prayer..." when trials should buffet... even so, it is well with my soul."
But if that wasn't enough to pull me out of my funk... then came bell choir practice back at the church. I am so blessed to have these women in my life. They never fail to make me smile, laugh, and forget everything else from the day as we share the stories of our kids, talk about our day... oh yea... and get bell music played. Really we do. And again... even tho I'm biased... even when we struggle.... we make pretty darn good music together. Music that God smiles at...music that lifts the soul... friends that bless and lift and friends who, just like Jesus, save my soul from the shadows. And they don't even know how much they all mean to me and how much they have truly blessed my life. They are the wings that lift me, the angels that remind me of the song of my soul. And if it's true that when a bell rings an angel gets their wings (thanks, Clarence) then these angels have wings upon wings with some in the closet to spare!