Audience

I don't sing well. My ear, though it appreciates music, does not discriminate notes well enough to allow me to be a musician. In spite of this, I am going to try to play guitar. It is quite possibly the stupidest thing for me to do since I think I was created to be in the audience.

My friend Jeff sings better than anyone I have ever heard. He sings high and clear like a mountain morning. There is no doubt that he is a master vocalist, but that is not what makes him so great.

There are lots of guys who can sing well, but they don't compare. That's because they don't sing from the gut. When I hear Jeff sing I don't just hear his voice, I feel it. I feel it in my heart. When that happens the strings of my heart begin to vibrate with his as he takes me to some hidden, precious vista that overlooks whatever it is that is human. It is truly precious to me.

Now part of me would love to sing out loud with him, or play guitar with him, or beat out some rhythm with him, but I can't. There is no sound I can make that can compare to the sounds his singing creates inside me.

Therefore I am in the audience. I am an onlooker. It isn't that bad though. You see, I know that at some level Jeff sings for me because I am his friend. He is singing for me. Sometimes when I visit Jeff he will sing a song that he knows I love. Most times he sings it better than the original artist. He sings for me because I am his friend.

Donald Miller alludes to this very idea in "Through Painted Deserts." On page 244 he says, "that life is a story told to him." I agree. This beautiful pageant of life is a gift to us. A performance played out by a master musician to me, a friend in the audience.