Aliel Cunningham

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and for many of us it is a day that tastes bittersweet. I know that is true for me. When it comes to this notorious day on the calendar, I find myself minimizing it, rushing by it, or sending flowers or chocolates to someone else so I don’t hear the loneliness ringing out from my own heart. As a prayer leader, I am better at listening to the hearts of others than I am at listening to the song of my own soul.

What does it mean to listen to the song of our soul? Whether we realize it or not, our soul is making music all the time and those around us pick up the vibrations of our soul’s song through the way we move and hold our bodies, the expression in our eyes, and especially the tone and timbre of our voice. If others can pick up on these vibrations, we also can learn to be familiar with our own physical and emotional ‘tells’ indicating that our soul is crying out for our attention and singing a song that is worth taking time to hear.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was having an information-focused conversation with one of my collaborators on upcoming project and the more we talked, the more I felt my body grow more tense with stress until I finally heard myself say “thank youuuu” with a long, drawn out downward intonation clearly indicating to the other person that I couldn’t take in any more details and the conversation needed to come to a close. She immediately responded to the shift in my tone of voice, took the hint and abruptly ended the conversation.

Until that moment, I didn’t realize how stressed I was feeling. As we start paying attention to how we respond to different types of encounters, we can become familiar with the different songs our soul is singing to us throughout the day and the different seasons of life we are walking through. In Proverbs, the book of Wisdom, we find the same admonition to notice and care about what is going on in our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Notice that word “flow”… the picture given here is that of a vessel or a fountain through which water is flowing. When you are connected to God’s Spirit, this flow is a bubbling stream of the living water of heaven singing with joy as it ripples through you to everyone around you. If your heart is clean, then you can hear the song it wants to sing without any difficulty. However, when your soul is dammed up with the debris of stress or the clutter of distraction, then not much fresh living water can flow through it. If we are not taking time to listen to the emotions or thoughts that are surfacing throughout the day, our soul’s song can become muffled and discordant.

The interesting thing is that we on earth are not the only ones listening to the song of our soul. What happens in our hearts and what we hear ourselves say reverberates in the spiritual realm as well. The story of Job gives us a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at how both God and Satan pay attention to our human heart’s reaction to both the good and the bad we encounter in life. Satan wagers with God that Job will curse God if his blessings are taken away. If Job had tried to ignore his heart’s cries, he might have become bitter and turned his back on God. Instead, Job is very honest about his heart’s cry and wrestling and he never turns away from God even in the midst of trying to make sense of unspeakable suffering he is going through. Because Job brings to God his grief, trauma, lament, and even bitterness, God is able to invite him into deeper places of growth and revelation, and greater grace and blessing.

What song is your heart singing today? Is the joyful living water of heaven bubbling through you even in difficult times? Is your heart singing a song of stress and frustration that you need to listen to? An honest song of lament that needs to be brought to God? A fight song of hope waiting for the morning light? Listening to the song of our soul is the first important step on the road to choosing the song we want to express to God and to all who are listening.

This act of choice is beautifully illustrated in the family classic, “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”. The Grinch seeks to quiet the “Whos” who lived in “Whoville” by stealing their Christmas decorations and material goods. But he realizes at the end of the story that he has failed to steal their joy and their song, because “maybe Christmas…means a little bit more”. I want those who are listening to the song of my soul to hear about Christ in the midst of whatever circumstances I am facing. I also want to listen to the song of my soul and listen for any notes that ring of self-pity or untruth rather than the honest and clean notes of wrestling joy, prayerful praise, and hope-filled trust.