For example, old rock is really good at teaching you how to love. Loverboy's This Could Be the Night taught me that sex was not just about sex but about "making love." 38 Special's Caught Up In You taught me to fight for love when it is true love! Their song Back to Paradise taught me that it is up to me to "make it real." Hold On Loosely taught me that no one, no matter how loved, wants to be smothered. Both people have to have their own lives and identities. But Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now taught me that if you are with the one you love, the world, life's circumstances, doesn't hold a lot of power over you. You can overcome them together. Huey Lewis' Power of Love taught me that love can hurt and it can heal. It can make you laugh and it can make you cry. It's the most powerful force on earth! When love made me cry I would always listen to The Dance by Garth Brooks. "Our lives are better left to chance. I could have missed the pain. But I'd have to miss the dance." Tom Petty's The Waiting and Diana Ross' You Can't Hurry Love reminded me that you can't force love. You have to wait till "fate leads you somewhere to the one that has your soul." just like it says in Deana Carter's That's How You Know It's Love.
Music taught me self confidence. When I felt weak or inferior I could listen to it and raise my self confidence. For example, Martina McBride's Happy Girl taught me that "the world won't change just cause I complain." and that I had to CHOSE to be happy! Whenever I was afraid to try something new I would listen to Standing Outside the Fire by Garth Brooks. "Life is not tried it is merely survived, if you're standing outside the fire!"
When I thought I couldn't do something, I failed at something, or I struggled to do something, I knew exactly what song would motivate me again! Tom Petty's Won't Back Down would immediately run through my mind! "I got just one life in a world that keeps on pushing me around, but I'll stand my ground." When I was training for my 5K I always played Paul Stanley's Live To Win while I ran. When the big day came and I was a quarter of a mile from the end of the race, I wanted to quit. But then I heard, "step by step and day by day till there's one last breath to go.."
Sometimes I wonder if my life is really making a difference. I need a little inspiration to keep writing. I need help remembering why I write. Then I remember that I should to quote a friend, "Be a light everywhere I go." I remember what I learned from Randy Travis' Point of Light. "There is a darkness that everyone must face. It wants to take what's good and fair and lay it all to waste. And that darkness covers everything in sight until it meets a single point of light. All it takes is a point of light, a ray of hope in the darkest night. If you see what's wrong and you try to make it right, you will be a point of light."
Sometimes I get overwhelmed. I feel like there is too much on my To Do list. I can't decide how to prioritize my time. When that happens I listen to Toby Keith's My List or Boston's Peace of Mind. It reminds me that spending time with God and my family should always come first. It reminds me to live and not just tick off tasks. After all like Billy Dean says, "We're only here for a little while." While we are on the subject, I Hope You Dance and I hope you Live Like You Were Dying. Tim and Lee Ann knew that you had to make the most of each moment because life is short and precious! Like Bon Jovi says, "It's now or never. I ain't gonna live forever."
I grew up poor. Sometimes I think that I could have become very materialistic. But I never did. Maybe it was cause I listened to songs like Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors and Silver and Gold. They taught me that "Silver and gold might buy you a home, but things of this world, they won't last you long. And time has a way of turning us old. And time can't be bought back with silver and gold."
Tom Petty's Free Fallin' is a great song to blast when you are free of something or after a break up. The guy shouldn't feel bad because he "broke her heart." But there is also nothing wrong with being the "good girl, loves her mama. Loves Jesus and America too." Every year, every September, I play Alan Jackson's Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning. It is the perfect song to lead me into the holidays. You see the holidays are about being with family and being thankful for life. Alan Jackson's song reminds me of what I am thankful for in my life. It reminds me not to take it for granted!
I am a country girl. I was raised in the country. All the men in my family played an instrument, a stringed instrument, they "picked." I remember pow-pow playing his banjo. I remember dad playing his guitar. Even my uncle Tim playing the mandolin. All those values they raised me with are sorta wrapped up in that music. It makes me think of Alabama's Mountain Music. I remember watching the sunset from our porch all the time and the talks I had in my head and with God during them. Is it any wonder that I wanted my future to be like Tim McGraw's Where The Green Grass Grows.
I have mentioned God and Jesus enough that you have probably figured out that I am a Christian. Sometimes I am facing a problem so overwhelming to me that I can't see how to fix it. More than once I have done stupid things I wished I could take back. My Nanny once told me with things like that you gotta "put it in the Lord's hands." If you don't know what that means just listen to Carrie Underwood's Jesus Take The Wheel.
All this music touched my life, shaped me into who I am. It gave me strength and wisdom. Words I could call on in a time of need. Music I could express my emotion through. If my life was a movie. It would have one killer soundtrack!
