Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Singing (10/31/05)
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TITLE: Making a... Noise | Previous Challenge Entry
By Rachel Burkum
11/05/05 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
“Make a joyful noise,” it said.
So I opened my mouth,
And let it all out…
Why are they staring at me?
Perhaps I didn’t quite hit it on key.
Maybe my tune was a little bit off.
I took a deep breath,
And belted it out…
Where did everyone go?
I looked at the words of the hymnbook I held.
I’d said the right ones, I’d seen the right notes.
I turned to page three,
To sing a new song…
Did glass just break down the hall?
Something seemed just a little bit wrong.
Why was everyone hushing me?
I looked all around,
And heard the others sing.
Had I not blended well?
I recorded myself, thinking it would help.
Maybe I could improve my voice.
So I pushed the play button,
And listened quite close…
And this is what I heard…
First came a frog of enormous size,
It croaked and groaned, and hopped all about.
I cringed in pain,
I shut the thing off.
Had I bought a defective tape?
Only slightly afraid, I pushed play again.
This time I was knocked clean out of my chair.
The shrillest sound I’d ever heard,
Came blaring through the air.
What kind of animal was that?
Picking myself up off the floor,
I thought I heard a cat screeching loud.
The squeal of breaks,
The clash of symbols.
Surely that wasn’t my voice!
I gritted my teeth against the awful sounds,
The flattest notes ever recorded.
Where was the tune?
I’d even rehearsed.
Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea.
My face grew red as I recalled my friends.
How horrible I must have sounded.
Embarrassed, I cried,
What was I to do?
How could I praise God?
I sounded awful! Was God cringing too?
How could I praise with a voice like mine?
Did He care?
Was He ashamed?
Maybe it was quitting time.
But I was supposed to sing, and sing out well!
The Bible had said so…I thought it had.
I picked it back up,
To read chapter and verse.
Then it seemed a little bit clearer.
“Make a joyful noise,” it said, plainly so.
“Sing unto the Lord,” it said somewhere else.
So there it was,
And I pondered those words.
Maybe being good wasn’t the point.
Maybe my singing, atrocious as it was,
Was still quite joyful, and sincere in the least.
The Bible didn’t say,
That I had to be good.
My praise was all God wanted.
I looked at the others in the small church,
And I opened my mouth to let it all out.
A few heads turned,
But I didn’t care.
I was praising my God.
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It croaked and groaned, and hopped all about." Very good discription!