Sing Like No One's Listening -- Hope Chronicles 46

It's one of those sayings, several lines actually, that you find being emailed hither and yon and wondering where they came from. Some say it is from an Irish Proverb and others from a song by Paradise Awaits. Sing like no one's listening. Dance like no one is watching. So, I do not have the definitive on where the words came from, but I love the sentiment and lesson behind them.

Yet, I find them difficult sentiments to live by. I am by nature extremely self-conscious. I always wonder -- no worry -- what everyone is thinking.

I was always part of a pair growing up and the part of the pair that came up lacking. My twin was better at piano than I was. We both took violin. She was always a chair or so ahead of me. When we did the plays in junior high, she got the bigger parts. Our sophomore year we both ended up in the school choir. Music was required that year. Somehow, we ended up seated several seats apart. Though no one had ever encouraged me in singing, no one had ever said I was awful either. As that year wrapped up, I started to dream of trying out for the special junior-senior group. I forget the name but they sang and danced. Maybe my interest was spurred on by the fact that my sister had no interest at all in trying out.

I went to the preps and I actually managed the try outs. Janel was a junior but sat next to me in the main choir. She was in both choirs and heard me audition. As I was walking out, she said to me, "Why don't you ever sing that loud in choir?" Somehow, I had managed some volume during the audition.

I didn't make it. As I probably too often do, I assumed that meant my singing was awful. For the most part, I have probably continued on as I did during choir -- kept my singing under the radar so to speak.

Mercy Me has an older song out called If I Could Only Imagine. Like that saying, it captures part of me because it asks the question if he were face to face with Jesus, "Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still?" Again, I cannot imagine being so in awe that I would let others see my awkward steps.

But then that is the point isn't it? What would it be like to be so moved by God's glory that we would worship uninhibited, that the awareness of everyone around us might fall away?

Today during church we sang All in All. It is an older song that I know from my InterVarsity days. When we sang in InterVarsity, we broke into men and women or split the room in half. After singing in it through altogether, one group would take part and the other the second part and sing it simultaneously. I loved the way the verses mixed.

But today we were just singing it together as one. After the first time through, I couldn't resist adding the opposite part. So, as everyone else sang the verse, I continued on with "Jesus, lamb of God, holy is your name...."

To my surprise I sang it loud enough that I could hear myself. I was one voice and I don't know that anyone else heard. Maybe they did. I was singing more loudly than usual. But for once, I didn't worry what others thought or if I was in tune. I simply lifted that up to Jesus.

Perhaps one day I'll dance as well . . . .