This new month of extending love that I may experience joy is unfolding already with the unexpected. We are staying this week with a dear friend in Norwich who drove us all home from a meeting in London yesterday (2 1/2 hours on the M5). It was a grand and long day that was not yet finished when we finally arrived in Norwich. We went directly to choir practice. I haven’t sung in a choir since I was in middle school. This was a non professional choir rehearsing for a charity event coming up in a couple of weeks for Red Balloon Learner Center (a marvelous group who offer specialized care and schooling for the victims of severe bullying). We were invited to join in which immediately caused an inner eye roll in me. I was tired, needed a cup of tea and couldn’t sing, why bother. But I did. I stood up and tried to find my voice and was immediately carried away by the enthusiasm of the conductor and the earnestness of those gathered around me. In a very short time I was belting out a Christmas song I had never heard before, a rather cheeky one at that. I felt a certain effervescence, a lightness and what is the word? Oh! Joy. I felt true, uninhibited joy. I felt rested, refreshed and bouncy in an astonishingly short time.
One of the things I am noticing with our travels is that I am definitely more open to the moment in front of me and willing to be there because we are in a new place doing different things. I was actually kind of surprised to even notice my tiredness and that it nearly stood in my way of an utterly new experience of joy. My forewarning by the Holy Spirit of uncovering the blocks to the awareness of joy’s presence softened my willingness at just the right moment. I have had the inkling before that I would like to sing but never done anything about it. A dear friend has recently joined a women’s choir in Asheville, and the daughter of our old friends’ in the Cotswolds was sharing about her choir in Birmingham. And my host then takes me to choir practice. I am suddenly surrounded by people singing. I think I am onto something but as someone who barley even listens to music this is truly virgin territory. I am all about words and quiet. Singing must be gently bridging a gap in my awareness that I can’t even yet see or understand.
For now, I am content to know that joy does indeed sing.
What a beautiful part of your journey! Way to go! Keep stepping into new places 🙂
Weirdly, I actually felt privileged to love enough to feel panicked if that makes any sense. Love you! xoxo
Hello my Dear Eva…so enjoying your travel logs and unfolding experience of Joy this month. I love your post today about singing. Almost since Thanksgiving (Canadian that is …October) a local radio station has been playing Christmas music and I find myself belting out the tunes every time I’m in the car. Thank God no one hears me but me. lol. I’m enjoying this post because this week my theatre group will have their annual Christmas party and a big part of that is singing…it always uplifts me and reminds me of how much singing elevates my mood and joyfulness. So sing on my friend…I’ll be thinking of you when I’m at my meeting this week.
Oh I love imagining you belting out the Christmas songs in the car! Sing on girlfriend:) xoxo