I was just thinking...

 

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons.  You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

  As I sat relaxing and enjoying my Sunday afternoon, I was playing with my tweetdeck, seeing what was going on in Twitterland, and I came across an interesting tweet from one of my newest followers  @jonnettefair.  She presented an interesting meme that asked for your Five Favorite Songs of all times (feel free to visit her blog Mega Watts and Green Thoughts, and add your five to the list)

 It was a real challenge for me because my list of favorite songs of all time expands farther than five songs.  Of all things consistent in my life music is one of them.  Even as a kid I knew that music (good music) has the potential to touch the soul.  I remember learning in Sunday School how King Saul would be in a foul mood and David would play a song for him on his harp and Saul's mood and temperament would change completely.  Music truly can sooth the soul...

It took me a minute to add my five songs to the meme as I reminisced of being a kid,  listening to the radio on the way to school in the school van, and hearing Send One Your Love by Stevie Wonder.  It was magical, I can't explain it, but I was enchanted by that song. I was way too young to understand much about love (the relationship kind) but I understood that song and I could not wait to get home later that day and give my mother a hug (she was the only woman in my life at the time)  

 Music is powerful in that sense, sometimes music makes it past your ears and touches your soul and it  can even  re-create a feeling, emotion or even a time that has been long gone and make you feel like you are right there.   Even now, when I hear songs like Creepin by Stevie Wonder it takes me back to those long hot summers as a kid and me riding my bike or sitting in a tree with my little transistor radio letting the music paint pictures on the canvas of my mind.

If I had any doubts of music's  ability to touch the soul, they were erased after the birth of my son.  During the time my wife was pregnant with my son, I used to talk, read and sing to him. One of the songs  I used to sing was Distant Lover by Marvin Gaye. (hey I was in the military and there were times my wife and I used to be separated from each other and that was one of our songs)  Shortly after he was born, my wife and I awoke to the sound of him humming the song in his sleep. (really he was)  I continued the tradition with my other children before they were born, (I just picked some uh age appropriate songs)  Now as teenagers they share my love for music. :)

As I have grown older I have learned to respect this power that music has, I am selective about what I allow to "touch my soul" because to be honest there are some places and feelings that I don't want to re-create and there are some thoughts that I would rather leave behind.  

For me music is like the quote above by Oliver Wendell Holmes, it is to the soul what water is for the body, and I bath my soul in it quite often and I find it both cleansing and refreshing.  

How about you, is music just music to you or does it touch your soul? 

Thanks for reading :)