Expression!

Today my friend came into the piano room as i practiced the very first scale i was taught at my very first music lesson that morning. He was having a bad week and needed a piano. The music he made was full of emotion. He told me he didn’t know the name of the notes he played, but he knew it was what he needed. He knew that if his fingers pressed these keys, and then these, the sound that came out would match what was inside of him. And then it was out. And it was better. It was beautiful. I was glad that no one had ever told him that he had to play any other way; that he only played the notes he needed, and the rhythms that made him feel right. He even banged his fists on the keys, and it hurt my ears, but he let out a loud “AHH!” and said “Sometimes even that feels good.”
When he left, I thanked God for giving humans something inside, and I thanked him for giving us so many different ways to get it out.
I was then presented with a problem. A person could consume their entire life in trying to figure out ways to get what’s inside of them out. A whole lifetime! For one way! Each one has so many caverns and depths to explore.
For some people, paint is able to get out what’s inside of them. For another person, its the sounds that a violin’s strings make when they move a bow across in different ways. For some people, it’s dancing that allows what’s inside to come out. Hip hop dancing, crump dancing, break dancing, modern dancing, ballet dancing, ballroom dancing. Some people can get it out through clothing - making it and wearing it. Putting together different colors, fabrics, stitches, prints, head-dresses, jewelry, shoes - wearing what’s inside of them right on their body. For some people, running can do it. Or rowing, playing soccer, football, tennis, or swimming, yoga, meditation. Some people release what’s inside when they pray and serve God. Focusing on Him is all they need. To some, writing. words are their paint, their movement, the notes they need. To some, its different languages. Some people can only get what’s inside by cooking. Dreaming up combinations of dough, berries, sauces, fruits, cheeses or crusts. When they combine ingredients, flavors, to finally achieve the taste, the feel and the look, they wanted, they’ve gotten it out. Some people use math. When they twist and push their mind to figure out a problem that’s important to them, they are able to get it out. Some people use their voices
What results is a sense of urgency in me. There’s absolutely no time to waste! How will we ever get it all out in one lifetime!? There’s so many chords, so many sounds, so many songs. There’s enough combinations of colors and shapes and materials to tell about what’s of me for thousands of years. Why waste one minute of your life? Why waste time forgetting about that fire in you, or ignoring it? Or even worse, letting other people douse it? Or letting it go out because of routine, or monotony, or laziness, or worry? None of those things can help that fire grow. What a waste of a candle when it forgets that its meant to hold a flame! What a waste of soil when it forgets that it is able to produce a garden of flowers, colorful and alive!