Daily Lesson for February 6, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 69 verses 30 through 33:

30 I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

Years ago Irie and I went to see Maya Angelou speak at the campus of Wake Forest. Maya spoke of her grandmother, 'Mama', who raised her in Stamps, Arkansas.  Mama ran a store there which was the center of black life in the small town. No rich white people ever traded in Mama's store, but sometimes poor whites would. Mrs. Angelou told the story of how a group of poor white children would sometimes come to the store and treat Mama with contempt, calling her by her first name -- a show of disrespect in the South at that time -- and then making obscene gestures at Mama.  Because of the racial dynamics at the time Mama could of course not rebuke the children or ask them to leave. Instead, she stood in silence, only replying with the requisite courtesies of, "Yes , ma'am," and, "No, ma'am."  After the children left Mama went behind the counter, disguising her tears at the shame of what had just taken place, and she began to sing:

"Glory, glory, Hallelujah,
Since I laid my burden down
I feel better, so much better,
Since I laid my burden down . . ."

Sometimes when I am feeling low or defeated, I will go online and listen again to Maya give that speech. When she comes to that part about Mama and the store and the song it always brings me to tears -- good, cleansing, healing tears. It is as if 300 years of shame and scorn, pain and pathos are all captured in that spiritual, and the silence of generations of Mamas is given voice with a song that all who hear know must be heard by God. 

I hear the voice, and I feel better.

If you are discouraged or dispirited today, I want you to know there is consolation in song. Go online and find Maya singing Mama's song. Or better yet, sing it yourself. The good LORD will hear it; and so too will your own soul.