From an article originally posted December 13, 2013…

I’m spending hours carefully laboring over the playlist for our upcoming dance party. Ella and I listen, dance, discuss each song. This one starts slow, I think that one might have dropped an F-bomb. We play the music in the car, at home, and by the time the dance gets here we might all be a little tired of the music. My littlest asked for one song: Ice Ice Baby! It’s her favorite. It made the cut.

I was thinking about the life we all live, the real life and the life we hope for. Every day I believe I have two songs simultaneously playing: my dance party, happy dance, song of hope. These would be one hit wonders, songs I sing at the top of my lungs, happily singing the wrong words and not caring. This would be the entire American Beauty record from The Grateful Dead, disco, cheesy Just Dance music that makes me think of dancing with my littles. These are my anthems of hope, my imagining the story with joy, hope, many tomorrows. Maybe that’s why I love a dance party.

Then there is the true story music. The songs that cause you to look honestly at your story, your heart, your fears and your suffering. These songs make you reflective on the past, your love, your reality. This playlist would have Emmy Lou Harris, Dan Lanois, Tim Timmons, Indelible Grace, Sandra McCracken, and Gungor. Anthems that let me sing my true story, free me up to cry, while offering sweet hope.

What is your sweet song of hope? What is your true song? Leaving you with a song I have shared before. This song is poetic, beautiful, painful, and a most favorite of mine. If you can copy YouTube links to your favorites in the comments we can all see your heart in song. Tell us what the song means to you: does it offer hope, free up your tears, does it tell your story in a way you can’t?