har-mo-ny, it’s easy as C-E-G

harmony

noun

1. the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressions having a pleasing effect.
2. agreement or concord.

dissonance

noun

1. lack of harmony among musical notes.
2. a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements.

I was sitting on the bus, heading home completely exhausted but pretty satisfied with the work I’d gotten done before a much-deserved break. Half asleep, I thought to myself, “I wrote four great papers this week; why not one more?” So here’s one for the music lovers. For the lovers, period. Let me break it down:

“we’re supposed to be in harmony right?

C-E-G,

G is God, C is me

middle C, that’s my key

if you’re on F, I have to move to D to harmonize with you,

but that makes us both dissonant with God

D-F-G

and He’s never gonna change

His key, His character

I can’t lose my middle C

so I move back

C-F-G

almost, but not quite

‘wait’, you say

‘what if I move to D?’

yeah, B-D-G would work

but only if I move to match with you

it’s not the C-E-G I’m meant to be in”

 

If you’re not familiar with these chords, I highly recommend playing around on this website to hear what I’ve been referring to. Tip: Press T for C4. Now, if you know how to play, I’m just talking major chords here. Major chords, major keys *ba dum tss*, so no inversions, no suspensions. If that last sentence made little-to-no sense to you, fear not; I’ll put a list of what keys to press at the end of this post! Now back to the breakdown.

This whole analogy came from a conversation I had with my friend Carrie about a month ago. I’d been thinking about relationships, and why I didn’t feel ready for one, a lot. I say it all the time, but I’m pretty sure that my brain is just a bunch of poem bits, random facts, and arrows that zoom around to make connections between everything faster than I can comprehend. It’s rare for me to talk about something without connecting it to something else, and that night, relationships, harmonies, and I went together like F-A-C. I’ve been sitting on this idea since then, but pumping out those four papers made me feel really dumb for ever thinking that I wouldn’t be able to share these thoughts in a clear way. Isaiah 51:16

If I’m being honest, this analogy is more of a story. The story of me trying to figure out how boys were supposed to fit in my life. Boys, men, The One™️… There are a lot of categories, and I’ve played a lot of chords. Literal chords; taking piano lessons was one of the highlights of my summer. I felt like an old dog learning old tricks, and I realized how much the slightest finger slip can mess with the melody. I’d already learned the recipe; God, man, and me, G, E, and C. So why would I get stuck on D? How would I backtrack to B? Short answer: I’d lose focus. My priorities would get super out of whack, and as I gave less attention to my relationship, my harmony with God, I turned up the volume and got myself in tune with songs I wasn’t meant to sing. I don’t know who The One™️ is, but I know Who he should look and sound like. So why was I settling???

Relationships are a big deal. Friendships, siblingships, baeships, marriageships. All the ships. The closer you are to me, the louder your note will be; I have to be mindful of this. Otherwise, I’ll end up bombarded with 88 keys when I only need to hear 3. For those of you who sing, if you’re singing next to someone who’s on the flattest F in the history of Fs, what do you do? You cover your ear. It’s not (totally) to block them out; you have to be able to hear yourself properly if you’re gonna find your note again. If you don’t, you’ll get accustomed to the note they’re singing, and eventually your pitch could slip to match theirs. Covering one ear allows you to hear yourself better without becoming completely unaware of what, or who, is in your environment. There’s “being unequally yoked” in musical terminology. Because I wasn’t taking them seriously, my yokes were choking me.

I’m gonna throw a whole bunch of verses at y’all at the end of this post, but this is really just me sharing my thoughts and experiences as a hopeful wake up call. Be intentional about who you have around you, and who you have close to you; there is a difference. “All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares” type ting. If you want to know what note you should be singing, find G. Keep His voice loud; stay in His Word. If any other note is gonna come close to the volume you get from Him, it should fit right in to the foundation you’ve built. Otherwise, everything falls apart, leaving you flat on your back, back at rock bottom.

Bonus Thought, from a friend: “If you’re talented and lazy, someone who’s average and hardworking will outshine you. Work makes what’s difficult seem effortless.”

Work to stay on key.

 

be blessed bbys ✨

 

Keys:

C-E-G (T U O)

D-F-G (Y I O)

C-F-G (T I O)

B-D-G (R Y O)

F-A-C (I P S)

Verses:  

Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
2 Corinthians 6:15 NASB

‘Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
1 Corinthians 15:33

‘Do not associate with a man given to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered man, Or you will learn his ways And find a snare for yourself.’
Proverbs 22:24-25

‘He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.’
Proverbs 13:20

‘Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.’
Proverbs 27:17

Birds of a feather really do flock together. You may start off as the sharpest ax in the tool shed, but hitting yourself against dull wood will only wear you down. Stay in harmony with Him and let the rest follow.