I Choose To Sing A Different Song

I ran into the excerpt from a new book by former spiritual adviser to President Barack Obama, Joshua DuBois. It quotes lyrics from a song by Nina Simone titled “Feeling Good”;

Birds flying high, you know how I feel

Sun in the sky, you know how I feel

Breeze drifting on by, you know how I feel

It’s a new dawn!

It’s a new day!

It’s a new life for me

And I’m feeling good.

—Nina Simone, “Feeling Good”

DuBois in making his point that no matter what is happening around us, we still have the choice on what to keep our focus on, also quotes Psalm 59 which narrates the Psalmist choices in the midst of crisis:

See how they lie in wait for me!

Fierce men conspire against me

for no offense or sin of mine, Lord. . . .

They return at evening,

snarling like dogs,

and prowl about the city.

They wander about for food

and howl if not satisfied.

I will sing of your strength,

in the morning I will sing of your love;

for you are my fortress,

my refuge in times of trouble.

You are my strength, I sing praise to you;

you, God, are my fortress.

—Psalm 59:3, 14-15, 16-17, (NIV)

Then DuBois concludes that “Nina Simone and David remind us of one unimpeachable fact: whatever situations we face, the lyrics we sing today are completely up to us. We can choose to shout above the din outside our window and sing louder than the ominous noise approaching our lives. We can worship God today. We can love today, even when it’s tough. We can take control of our song, our Psalm”.

What a great word of encouragement from Joshua DuBois. I know that when I am faced with crisis – I resort to my native instincts of how people dislike me for whatever reason. I focus on the negative circumstances instead of looking to the larger work the good Lord is doing my life. The truth is it is up to us not the circumstances. 

Writing about habits of effectiveness, the late Stephen R. Covey said that to live effectively, we must be products of our own decisions not our circumstances. When we allow our circumstances to determine our responses we become reactive to “weather, to someone who has it in for us”.

But when we decide that no matter what happens, we have the power to choose. I need to remind myself of this constantly. Like the psalmist David, I can sing of God’s goodness in the midst of the storm. I can reflect on the grace that enables us to live and deal with life. I can remember that my story is only just unfolding and truly;

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).

In a world of the whirlwind, it is easy to forget that the choice is ours - that the remote control of our lives lies in our hands. It is truly up to us to focus on that which brings peace. So I can dedicate my day to this fact and with help of God, live a life that reflects this undeniable fact.

And as John Steinbeck wrote in “East of Eden”, “And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected”.