With a Song in my Heart

“My life flow on in endless song, above Earth’s lamentation,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to the Rock I’m clinging,
Since love is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comforts die? I know my Savior liveth.
What though the darkness gather round? Songs in the night he giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to the Rock I’m clinging,
Since love is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?"


So go the words from a piece of music sacred and precious to my heart. I first heard the words during my inaugural summer as a cast member in the summer-stock theater production of “TEXAS.” The “How Can I Keep from Singing” number was the climax of Act I and my favorite moment in the show. “TEXAS” is performed in one of the greatest outdoor venues on Earth- the Pioneer Amphitheater in Palo Duro Canyon. I used to sing the words of this song on a dimly lit stage under a majestic night sky, the Canyon walls providing a rugged, yet ethereal, backdrop.

If we get to choose our own personal heaven, then I would wish my soul to roam freely about the Palo Duro Canyon, forever ebbing and flowing in Endless Song. My only wish for my life is to never stop being able to sing! It is impossible for me to spend a day without a song in my heart. I believe that God blessed me with eternal song; how, then, can I keep from singing? To paraphrase Jesus, if I were commanded to keep silence, I believe that the rocks themselves would life up their voices in song.

As flowers in a wreath are woven together in a unified circle, so are my music and my faith. I realized not too long ago that my faith led me to music and my music led me to my faith. Where one seemed to stymie, the other would flourish. Where one would stifle, the other would inspire. When my faith seems inert, I turn to songs so that I may hear the voice of God. When music no longer fulfills my longing, I turn to my faith for inspiration.

The last Sunday at my home church, my best and dearest friend surprised me with his own choral arrangement of “How Can I Keep from Singing.” To this day, I sob whenever I hear this hymn, for it recalls not only memories of my beloved Palo Duro Canyon, but also memories of the home I left behind. My life is unsure right now. I do not understand myself, nor do I understand my call; what God has planned for my life is a complete enigma. But while storms of self-doubt may “shake my inmost calm,” I will forever cling to the Rock, forever remember that while “Love is Lord of heaven and earth,” there will never be a reason not to sing.