During my tenure at Disney and Disney Institute, many wonderful people have blessed my life. They all say the feeling is mutual. Isn’t that perhaps the most amazing Grace that we can go through daily life and have glimpses of Heavenly comfort for life’s ordinary activities?
David says it differently here…
“Same Song, Different Verse“, by Barbershop singer extraordinaire, David Balentine:
I recently saw a friend at the grocery store and asked the typical “how’s it going” when we passed in the produce section. He gave the generic response “same song, different verse.” He went on about not having any variety to his life and everything had the same, boring routine.
Fast forward a few weeks to a cold Sunday afternoon. On the second Sunday of each month a small group from our local church meets at a nursing home to sing hymns for the residents for about an hour. This is a benevolent work our congregation has led for over 25 years. The songs are familiar tunes that have been around anywhere from 50 to 200 years. Their tunes and lyrics evoking visions of rest, peace, happiness, home, joy, salvation and the like.
One of the hymns we sing is one of the most recorded in history. It is well known and has been for many generations. Most of the verses can be quoted even by the occasional singer. But not all of its verses are as familiar as others. It’s the words to one of the verses that give me the assurance that the temporary nature of our earthly body is just that . . . temporary.
“Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace.”
There are times where we over look the importance of a different verse. It’s not that one verse is superior to the others. We get so caught up in our routine of only singing familiar verses that we overlook the entire message as intended by the writer.
What about the routine of the residents of this facility? Most of them are bound to a wheelchair, an electronic scooter or their own bed. Their eyes are tired and can no longer read the pages of a hymnal. But to see their eyes fill with tears when they hear a song from days gone by . . . well, it’s difficult to keep from crying yourself.
The gift of God’s amazing grace should make us appreciate every verse of every song, even if it’s the same song every day.
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