Sing a Simple Song
I’ve been praying a very specific prayer lately. I’ve been praying “God, I know you’re always there, but make me aware of you at all times.” There seems to be an endless stream of teaching moments as I have seen this prayer answered. Here’s one such moment. (Side note I stole the title of this from one of my favorite Sly and The Family Stone songs, thanks Sly aka Sylvester Stewart)
So I’m on a gig at a pretty notable resort in the area doing my acoustic thing. I was playing a mix of covers and originals(mostly covers at this place). I paused between songs on this occasion cuz people were actually giving applause after each song(doesn’t happen that often lol) but I let them clap and gave a quick spiel about the song or the artist and moved on pretty quickly. After one song (incidentally Andy Grammer’s hit “Keep Your Head Up”), I started to hear some hecklers from one of the hotel balconies. They yelled “Quit singing that sh*t, you suck, play Freebird, we’re trying to sleep…etc.”
Now, as a musician/entertainer I make my self subject to this possibility anytime I get on the mic, so I am not asking that you feel sorry for me but I’m using this incident to share how God used it to speak to me. At first the heckling was just annoying and I just played it off as a bunch of guys who had too much to drink or with nothing better to do but then, the heckling started getting into my spirit and I started second guessing everything I was playing…I started thinking…”maybe I should just quit”…and then I felt something rise up inside of me that said “keep singing your song, don’t quit, that’s what they want” and Just then a light came on in my mind.
I started thinking “how awesome is that, that’s just like God beckoning me forward in my spiritual journey”(All this happened in my mind while I was signing “Brown Eyed Girl” lol). I felt God reminding me to keep “singing my song” despite the hiccups, despite the setbacks, despite the hecklers and the haters…press on. So I did just that, I kept on singing but (and this a helpful hint for anyone that has been in this position) I began to eliminate the pauses between songs. I weaved one song into the next like a skillful DJ does to kill any dead space that the hecklers could use for their shenanigans. Eventually I guess they got exhausted looking for opportunities to chime in and hate on me because they seemed to stop at some point. They could have been doing it the whole time I was playing but I was too busy singing to notice. The whole time I felt God developing this idea for an encouraging blog.
So, here’s where I think God was leading me. I am in recovery and it’s been a rewarding, crazy, bumpy and amazing journey. I have had moments where I failed, relapses, screw ups but every time God is always there reminding me not to give up. Sometimes it’s through other people encouraging me, sometimes it’s through songs, sometimes through 12 Step meetings, sometimes I feel like God is directly speaking to me. However, sometimes the voices of the enemy are so loud in these moments that it gets in my spirit and I wanna give up. God keeps beckoning me into his abundant life. The scripture says “The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy but I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly”.
We have a saying in recovery(we have lots of them) it says “Keep coming back”. It reminds us that we’re on this life long journey and there will be hiccups, failures and maybe even relapses but we’re reminded to never stop fighting, never give up!! Philippians 1:6 says that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion..” God started something amazing in you and I and he’s gonna finish it. So, when we land in a place like I did with the hecklers where I wanted to just quit Remember, keep singing your song. The word says “resist the devil and he will flee from you, draw near to God and he will draw near to you” Resist, persist and persevere and like Sly said “Sing a Simple Song.”
davis mitchell 