Name Them One by One

I miss singing. My voice trouble just doesn't allow it.  I have learned that even though I cannot sing, the desire to sing has not yet been muted. It is frustrating. Every once in a while I try anyway and the result is pitiful. I especially miss singing the good hymns at church.

Today we had a “broadcast” Stake Conference. The intermediary hymn was “Praise to the Man.” I love that one. I tried to hum along softly but even that got too hard. I then just mouthed the words but when we got into the later verses, I wasn’t so sure of the lyrics. Oh wait, they have the words on the big screen, right? News flash: you don’t see that well either. I started feeling sad; I just wanted to sing!! Is this not the weirdest “challenge” you’ve ever heard? I have no precedent. I never even considered that the nerves controlling vocal cord tautness could malfunction resulting in loss of tone and strength. I just always figured that I’d be able to do something as easy as sing.

Fortunately I didn’t let the self-pity train leave the station. I know that it doesn’t help anything or anyone to focus on the limitations. OK, can’t sing and eyesight isn’t great. What do I want? A medal? A violin solo?

I needed to shift my focus at once. Sure, there’s a black cloud, a weird black cloud, but what is the silver lining? I then considered that my hearing is fine and I could enjoy listening to the hymn. Not everyone has that blessing. Further, I was standing next to my son and I could hear him singing beautifully. There are a lot of blessings in that sentence. I can stand. I have a son. My son can stand. He is next to me. He can sing. He can sing well. He is singing. My son is singing a hymn with the congregation. He is singing very well.

I was up to ten and I’d scarcely started. Counting your blessings really works.