The Sunday the Uncaged Canaries website went live I thought of Lorraine. When would she share her song with the world?
That very day, I soon discovered.
I sit in the same little circle as Lorraine on Monday nights—except when she migrates south in the winter.
Lorraine sometimes seems timid yet has a tenacity that takes her to places too few others go. If you sit next to her for a while, though she might seem silent for weeks, you eventually discover that she fights relentlessly for people who would otherwise be alone in their suffering.
She fights in spaces where the discomfort and emotional toll stop many who seem louder but live less boldly. She sorts out logistics to ensure provision of care. She prays for healing, where others might pray for destruction. Maybe most importantly, she listens before she acts.
Lorraine also walks alongside her husband in the Dayspring Music Box ministry. Songs in a box, tunes from long ago, reach into minds that have retreated to another place. And remembrance brings peace to restless souls.
And yet, while Lorraine helped birth a ministry to deliver songs and hope in a box, she hadn’t realized she was a living music box.
Last Monday, as I sat beside her, I said I just wanted to know what Lorraine had to say, that I didn’t know why, but she had been so strongly on my mind.
“That’s because Lorraine sang her song yesterday,” someone said.
No human orchestrated that timing.
Last Sunday Lorraine sang her song and spoke a powerful message as part of a church service testimony time called “I said yes”.
“I hope I can learn to present better by the time I have to speak at the Ignite conference for 30 minutes,” Lorraine told me.
She will. But I wonder if people might be more moved if her talk at Ignite later in the year is a little bit messy. Last Sunday, it was Lorraine’s willingness to speak in front of people and sing her song prior to polished perfection that prompted others to respond afterward with their own “yes”.
And the song itself was born from being willing to go to messy places. While the song’s lyrics and melody came through what seemed like an instantaneous heavenly download, Lorraine realized later they came through a process, hidden even to her at the time.
So often our song - literal or figurative - is written through the wrestling. And it’s written through taking the time to just be. When Lorraine reviewed her journal, she found her song’s words and themes woven throughout.
The song writing was both effortless, in how it appeared instantaneously, and fruit from Lorraine’s choice to selflessly give everything she has and everything she is day after day.
“God took my words to Him and gave them back to me in a song,” Lorraine said.
Her song closed out the church service, a surprise to Lorraine.
Lorraine had sung a cappella. But now, as Lorraine rose for the service’s final song, she discovered it was the one she had written. Instruments joined in, and an entire congregation rose to sing.
Sing your song. You may just find that others rise and sing along.
Your song, your voice - even your mess - might be what inspire others to rise.
You can find more information about the Music Box Ministry at dayspringmusicbox.com. Listen to Lorraine’s story and song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grMKhQo3WOg. Lorraine begins speaking around minute 25.