My Life as a Listener

Since I was a kid I knew music was my thing. I never stopped singing, constantly whistled, plinked around on anything that made an interesting sound and basically drove my big brother to the brink of insanity. I devoured musical games and recordings, so much so that neighbors and friends thought I could spell at the age of 3. I couldn’t, but I could mindlessly regurgitate everything on the Hooked on Phonics record because it was all set to music.

I discovered the French Horn when I was in the 6^th grade and my passion for the instrument and for music took me on to Juilliard, Carnegie Hall, Broadway and beyond.

I spent decades pursuing a career in classical music and basically ignoring my soul’s deep need to know God. I think my mindset was that I was pretty sure I believed, but that I would get around to serving God later once I was done accomplishing my own stuff. As you can imagine, God had other ideas, but he generously and lovingly waited for me to come around.

Once I came fully into relationship with him, it began to crystallize for me that all these years pursuing music were not wasted at all. In fact, the Bible says it this way:

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” – Romans 8:28

What I began to see were incredible parallel lessons between what one must do to achieve success in music and what one must do to have a fruitful spiritual life. The entries that follow are my meditation on those things.

2013 Copyright by Misty Tolle