“Let my tongue sing about your word, for all your commands are right.” Psalm 119:172 NLT

For as long as I can remember she has sung. I’m not sure when my mother actually began singing gospel songs. I suppose it was as a young girl when she gathered with her family on Saturday nights around the old converted player piano. Then she began singing in the old Methodist church they attended. After my dad became a minister, she sang in every church he pastored. A few times along the way, she formed a quartet and sang in other churches. Sixty years later, Mom’s still singing and playing the piano. Many of the songs she sings are the same ones she sang when I was a child. They all have one thing in common. They testify about Jesus, what he’s done, and how he’s coming back one day to take his children home.

No one else in our family has been blessed with Mom’s singing ability. Dad was a fair singer and so is my middle brother. I’ve never heard my youngest brother sing, and I never utter song sounds loud enough for anyone to hear.

What I can sing about-and do a good job at it, doesn’t require knowing music or being able to carry a tune in a bucket. Mom actually sang the gospel, but I can sing it by just sharing it with others. Though some won’t like the words of the song, I can’t alter the original message the author wrote: humans are sinful, God is love, Jesus forgives, and heaven and hell are real. I can change the methods I use to share it, but the message remains the same.

Jesus tells me and all his followers to sing this song. I must sing it with love, patience, and volume. The entire world needs to hear. I can sing literally-although I won’t, but I can and must sing through the spoken word, emails, texts, Skype’s, gifts, actions, and attitudes.

How often and loudly are you singing God’s song?

Prayer: Father, may we sing of Your love often and to everyone we meet.

Martin Wiles Hodges, South Carolina, USA