This afternoon I attended a choral concert. A girl (or young lady? she is growing up and tall so quickly!) from church is involved with the Seattle Children's Chorus, and she invited me to attend.

It was beautiful. The concert was held in a large, cathedral-like church. There were nearly 200 kids, ages 7-18 in the Chorus, split into four different chorale groups. Their singing was so pure and bright, and their voices rose high to fill the cavernous hall.

While I was sitting there, it struck me that long ago, about 15 years ago, I sang in a choir rather similar! The North Orange County Children's Choir (NOCCC), led by Mr. Liwei Chen. It is still in existence today.

Actually, you can see both Joy and I in their photo gallery pictures. Check out this one. Can you find me? Or Joy? Give you a hint. We are both standing close to Mickey Mouse. Look closely.... to Mickey's right, that's me! And in front of us, that's Joy! Another one. Joy & I are standing together in the back row, center. Look how I tower over her. This one is awesome! I am posing, right in the middle, with my Lion King hair. Joy looks darling, with her typical Chinese-bangs cut.

Both of us even wrote short little entries in the 1989-1990 NOCCC yearbook. (You need to scroll down a bit to get there.) Hilarious! What memories... I remember how much I hated going to practices, getting dressed up in our choir uniforms, and standing up on stage for such long stretches.

But you know, I failed to appreciate at that time that singing...SINGING... is joyous and wonderful and lifts one's heart closer to God. In fact, it's a reflection of His goodness and beauty, and the simple pleasures He gives us. In C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan creates the world.. by word, yes, but through singing! He sings the world into existence. Could that be the way it really happened....?

Thank You Lord for the brief respite from the daily grind and the reminder that all that You created is good, particularly music and the ability to sing!