It's a trap!
And too many of us... myself included... fall victim because of what Alma calls, "the easiness of the way."
"Oh yeah, sure, I'll conduct the hymns on Sunday, Bishop. No biggie..."
And then we get like, "Oh, I can just get up at the last second and be fine. I know the patterns. Nobody's looking anyway."
And the fiery flying serpents start nibbling at our heals.
It's like their venom fills us with either apathy or enough pride to stop us from doing just a BIT of preparation.
All it takes is a few minutes to look through the hymns, take a moment to think deeply about them.
It's SO easy.
But, with all the hyper-distraction of smart phones and social media and our busy schedule, we let the fiery flying serpents inject us a little more, and a little more with their venom.
All it takes is a little effort to turn the congregational singing into something MUCH more than just another hymn... just another tick of the meeting agenda.
The music is the open portal to spiritual wonders.
But that venom is stirring in our veins now and it's too hard to do the easy thing, to "look and live."
Perhaps part of the problem is not knowing what to do to prepare better. Okay, that's a fair point.
And I can help with that.
In fact, as I've been mentioning, that's one of the most important topics we'll cover during the "Conducting the Hymns with Dr. Doug" virtual workshop, coming up in a few weeks.
If you've like to avoid these fiery flying serpents and look and live so you can open that portal to spiritual wonders during your congregational music leading, I hope you'll join us.
You can sign up for the waiting list by clicking the link below:
https://douglaspew.ck.page/6c95a4c00d
I'm really looking forward to this.
For now, don't be swayed by the easiness of the way.
Take a few minutes and at least consider the meaning of what lies beneath the notes and words before you stand to lead the joint congregational choirs of your ward members and any visiting from the other side of the veil that day.
Have a good one!
Doug