“Think past the double bar line.” That is one of the rules my children have to follow when performing a song. If you have ever looked at a piece of music, you know there is a double bar line that the arranger or composer places at the end of the musical score. It signals to the musician that the end of the song has occurred.
When my children don’t maintain their focus through the entire song they can ruin a song they have worked hard to perfect. If they follow the rule and think”past the double bar line” they provide beautiful moments in which the listener is caught up in the song. Time will seem to stand still as the listener focuses on every note, every beat, and on every word until the last note is played. When this happens you can palpably feel the last notes float down and land. A breath of completion is felt and the song ends. Perhaps you have been in a concert or a church service where you have heard and felt this type of moment. These moments are beautiful. The performer has made every beat of the song count and has not wasted a single second.
Since most of my day is spent helping my children learn to play, write, sing, and arrange music, it is no wonder that God often uses analogies in music to teach me lessons. Every day that double bar line stares back at me from the paper reminding me of a truth bigger than the song in which is it placed.
Each of us has a double bar line. A point at which all things will stop as we know them, in our current human state. We all have a number of days given to us in which to spend as we choose. The question I must ask myself is, “Am I living my life while thinking past the double bar line?” Do I live each day with the desire to hear the words, “Well done thou good and faithful servant?”
As the world mourns the passing of Billy Graham we see a life that was lived with the double bar line way of thinking. Billboards and hashtags proclaim these two words across his picture “Well Done.” These words are a fitting reflection of a man who spent every day of his adult life pointing others to the cross.
As I have reflected on this concept, here are three ways living with the double bar line in mind helps.
Helps me maintain patience with the current season I am in.
A double bar line doesn’t only occur at the end of a piece. The composer may put a double bar line in other places to signal the end of a movement or section of music. In the same way, life has double bar
lines scattered throughout, marking the end of seasons in our lives. My husband and I were talking the other night about how easy it now is to take all 8 of us out to dinner. This was not the case for many years! I have spent many mealtimes walking a restless child around a restaurant, picking up items thrown on the floor, and trying to occupy a busy toddler while waiting for food. Living every day while knowing that the hard seasons won’t last forever can help us maintain patience and perspective.
Helps me keep material things in perspective.
When I hold onto items I don’t need, I am living as though I will be able to keep them forever. We all know this isn’t true! If I have items I don’t use or need, why not donate them to others who are in need? By holding onto items for too long we often squeeze the life out of them. Ever hold onto an object thinking you might use it again only to pull it out a few years later and realize it doesn’t fit or you just don’t like it anymore? What if I had given that item away to someone who was in need and could have used it while it still had a lot of life in it?
On a deeper level, by holding onto things I don’t need anymore am I really saying, “God, I am going to hang onto this in case you can’t provide for my needs in the future?”
Helps me love others
Everyone around me has a double bar line. One day they too will give an account of their life including their acceptance or denial of Christ. Knowing this I must ask myself does my life point others to Him? Do I live every day in full submission to the Lord? Does my family reflect the kingdom of God and point others to Him? Am I teaching my children to number their days?
Just as the double bar line is important in music, so is the realization that my life has a double bar line. As the writer of Hebrews 12:1 encourages us “Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
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