greatness and grouches

I didn't feel like going to church this morning. Following a week of being a stand-in mother to a determined 2 1/2 year old neice, and infant nephew - I was done. Sleep-deprived. Energy deficient. Tired. Exhausted. Drained. Ready to sleep in for a day or two.
I know, I know...it's Easter - the pinnacle of the Christian calendar (and mass amounts of chocolate intake)...who wouldn't want to go to church?! Well...when you're awoken at a premature hour to the whines of old gospel music after you've graciously given up your bed you haven't slept in for a week for a nite on the couch - my grouchy disposition was on the borderlines of leaping out into humanity and doing something drastic.
But drastic is a choice.
And so is grouchiness.

Instead, I opted to suck it up, get my caffeine for the morning and go to the big blue house I call church. Better than my morning cup o' joe, or an extra hour with my pillow...it was exactly what I needed.
Worship was awesome - with one of my fav P.Baloche songs in the mix...

Who could imagine a melody true enough to tell of Your mercy
Who could imagine a harmony sweet enough to tell of Your love
I see the heavens proclaiming You day after day
And I know in my heart that there must be a way
To sing a greater song, a greater song to You on the earth
To sing a greater song, a greater song to You on the earth

How does one sing a greater song, really? This was the question turning over my thoughts. With a single word, God answered my questioning spirit:

Sacrifice.

It seems so simple...and yet it is the hardest thing for most of humanity because it involves laying down ourselves for something else or someone else.

And just for the record - God's not asking us to do something He hasn't already done. His greatest song on earth came in the form of a sacrifice - held in place by 3 nails.And because of this song, other's have lifted their lives in harmony...can you hear them?
To an outcast harlot named Mary, it was pouring a bottle of expensive perfume on the feet of a man condemned to die...
William Tyndale's life song came through translating the Bible - to the point of martyrdom...
Gladys Aylward - missionary to China - sung to the audience of hundreds of orphans...
The list is endless really...but it's melody is found - not just in the crescendos of monumental, world changing endeavors...but in the everyday moments of surrendering oneself to something greater than self.
It is the song sung that chooses marriage over an office affair.
It is the simple tune that gives away a weekend to help a friend.
It is the gentle hum of the secret giver.
To sing is a choice.
To sacrifice is a choice.
What will be the song sung with your life?...