I WAS ASKED TO SING AT A WEDDING…

I was asked to sing at a wedding today.

That likely comes as a shock to many of you who know me and my, uh, vocal skills.

But I tell the truth.

It began with, “Grandma, will you play with me?” I put my shower on hold as soon as my commandeering pixie of a granddaughter informed me there was going to be a wedding. She and Kristoff were tying the knot. (Again. They have repeated their vows a few times this week.) I was handed a brightly colored tambourine and commanded to sing.

So sing I did. Loudly. Enthusiastically. While shaking a tambourine. It was like a dream come true.

At three years old, my youngest grandchild is a tiny little thing; she probably weighs twenty pounds soaking wet. But she speaks with the authority and boldness of military generals. Facial expressions and hand gestures are her backup forces.

She used that tone and those gestures to assure me my singing career would be short lived.

“That’s enough, Grandma.”

Sigh. It was fun while it lasted. I doubt I’ll be offered that particular invite again, not even by my imaginative progeny, who belts out “It’s Raining Tacos” with me on a regular basis. Something about me singing solo I guess?

Anyway.

I spoke the truth to you. I was asked to sing at a wedding. But that invite took on a whole different meaning when I placed it in the proper frame of context, right?

We are living in a crazy era, although perhaps it has always been this way, when it is challenging to discern what is real, what is true, what is good, what is right. I’ve had to constantly remind myself that information and facts can be presented in ways that completely skew the reality, that humans often frame their own stories so as to alter the truth even to themselves. Images can be so photoshopped that we barely recognize the people in them. Even scripture can be taken out of context.

I’ve also learned that I can be very wrong in my own thinking and that I can view life from my limited experiential knowledge.

So what’s a girl to do? Especially a girl who values truthfulness, integrity and authenticity more than accomplishments or material goods? A girl whose very core is her faith in Christ and her desire for others to know His unfathomable love?

I try to listen more, learn more, understand more.

Yet, I can still get it wrong.

So ultimately, I bow my heart to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6) I search the scriptures, not defensively or for words to “prove” anything, as I did so often in my younger days. Instead it is a desperate cry for wisdom, truth, and discernment. I ask for a revealing of any blindness or deception in my own heart. I plead for guidance. For boldness. For steps to take.

And God is faithful, so I hang on expectantly, because I am promised to be guided into truth by the very Spirit of Truth. My soul is at peace in the midst of a world full of conflict.

(Warning: I will also continue singing loudly and enthusiastically at every possible opportunity.)

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you. John 14:26