Waltzing Matilda

“Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me…” That song has been quite literally stuck in my brain for the last twenty four hours. I woke up yesterday with it in my mind and it has stayed there since. At odd intervals, I – the person who really does wander grocery stores and choir lofts alike singing aloud, I have had a hard time not bursting out with a billabong or coolabah tree. But somehow staring at the work in front of me, I don’t think that all my fellow office sitters would appreciate my vocal interruptions. Oh well….

   Isn’t it strange how a song can lodge in your mind and just stay there? How does that happen? Did I dream of Australia the previous night? But some songs will just stay there, as if they had actually been written on me with indelible ink. If songs and words that became stuck really did become written on me with indelible ink, I wonder what would show up. I know what I would like to show up, maybe something similar to Paul.
   The Apostle Paul went and worked among the Jews and Greeks. Then, Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia but were opposed to Paul and he drew his boundaries and headed out a different way. I think that that must have been a difficult thing for Paul to do. Here he is, devoting himself to a work that he believes in and now is forced from it. When Paul left, he had a vision from the Lord. Paul was told “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.” Paul had something stuck in his head and heart, words from God. No, he had never heard Waltzing Matilda, but his song was one of salvation – a message of hope and life. If we could have seen those words, it would have been “keep speaking”.
   Hopefully, this song will be done with me soon and move along to someone else’s brain. I’d be happy to share. But, the thoughts of “keep speaking”, those I will cling to, holding on to them and wrapping my fingers into the fabric of God’s word as tightly as I can.