“Neil Diamond” by Rodney Tilley

It is 4:00 in the morning and I have been singing in my head the songs of Neil Diamond for the last two hours. I found an old cd the other day with the classic hits of Neil Diamond and I listened to the double album, reminiscing, but sad to say, the CD is on play again.  

A couple of days ago while I was working at the mini-golf, I played the album the whole afternoon, not really listening, or so I thought, and now it is playing from the beginning again.  The songs went in and now the songs are coming out and I cannot stand it.

They just keep playing over and over again. “Shilo when I was young, I used to call your name,” and “Red Red Wine” is keeping me awake and I do not even drink wine. Over and over the songs are singing in my head and I just want to go back to sleep.  As they say, “garbage in, garbage out.” I am not saying that Neil Diamond is garbage, but you get the picture.

But maybe that is what is wrong with a lot of us. Maybe we are getting up singing the blues because we went to bed listening to the blues. 

We fill our lives and our minds with the despondent, with despair, and wonder why that last country song has us singing about “friends in low places.” We sing songs of yesterday’s dreams and gaze out our windows hoping for a change in life and a change in heart while only looking back to past romances and scorned love. Maybe we are just singing and listening to the wrong songs and that is the problem. 

Fortunate for us, there are other songs to sing. There are songs of freedom, and songs of joy. There are songs that sing of forgiveness and mercy and there are songs that talk of being set free from sin. 

There are songs that encourage us and give us peace in the night. All through the Bible we have examples of people singing, from Moses singing songs of deliverance, to Jesus and his disciples singing just after the “communion supper.” 

In fact, the Bible tells us in Psalm 40:3, that God will put a new song in my heart. In fact, if it is in my heart, then it will be in my mind, and if so, I can sing, “my chains are gone I’ve been set free,” instead of “you don’t bring my flowers anymore.”  I can go back to sleep because I can sing, “I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.”

I can put Neil Diamond to rest and then we all can get a good night’s sleep. Sweet dreams and see you tomorrow. 

For more information on the peace of God, call Pastor Rodney Tilley at 432-207-0015, Van Horn Community Church.