Can You Hear the Music?

In one of my favorite talks, Wilford W. Andersen gives a wonderful analogy. Two men are talking and one of them asks "Do you Dance?" The man replies, "I do not. Can you teach me?" The other man says "I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music." This is a profound analogy to our worship. It is not enough just to perform the right steps in the right order, or just go through the motions of church attendance. We have to hear the music, or in other words we have to feel the joyful spiritual feeling that comes with living the gospel.

Dancing without music is awkward and uncomfortable and if we do it long enough we may stop or we may continue just to please others. The same goes for living the gospel. If we do the right things but do not feel the joy that comes from following Christ we may stop following Christ or we may continue just to please others. This is against God's wishes for us. He wants us to find joy in living the gospel. He is not trying to pound us, like a blacksmith, into something we are not. He is purifying us, like a diamond, so that we can become our best self. Honestly, it is extremely hard to find joy in living the gospel all of the time. None of us always want to choose the right, and when we do it doesn't always fill us with joy. The motto for us can be "keep practicing".

We are not going to be perfect dancers right when we start. We are not going to always hear the music. But if we strive to do our best, dancing will be beautiful to us and the music will fill our souls. So for everyone that feels like sometimes they don't feel the music of the gospel (that should be all of us), please remember to keep practicing. Pray for that love. Keep choosing the right. Count your blessing. The love and joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ will fill your souls. It won't come in one giant flash but step by step you will feel it more and more in your life.