Do you hear what I hear?

This afternoon, my mind is on a lighter note than they heavy stuff of this morning.  When I was young, I really thought that I was mature.  At the age of twenty one, I felt like I had died a thousand times.  I felt old, but what  I was, was different.  I was a different immature, but I was truly immature.  I was nosy, I was mysterious and there was a whole lot I did not know.  Now, that I look back at my college years, it was like I had emerged from hibernated in a cave.  I listened to The Winans and Take 6 and Ben Tankard because they were pushing the envelope in gospel music.  I also chose choirs that black people thought too conservative because that sounded like me.  I was outside of the box.  In my twenties, I kept listening, but I favored gospel music that was vaguely R and B.  I chose music that you could sing to God and man.  I took songs that you normally sing to man and sung them to God.  I was longing for relationship of some sort and the music gave my feelings somewhere to go.  As I continued to mature, I listened to music of the refined person.  I had nothing else left to prove, but I did not want to be seen as "ghetto" and loud.  I listened to Jonathon Butler and Earl Klugh.  I favored Peter White and The Ahn Trio.  As I headed down into the stretch of my life where people say you become settled in your ways, I did not need to prove a point to anyone.  Somewhere at forty, I fell in love with country and classical music.  I like the fact that country music is not trying to be something that it is not.  At least I did not think so.  I embraced the part of me that others would hide.  I embraced being hopelessly country.  I embraced my hatred for anything loud.  I resurrected the part of my life that is a Church of God in Christ Missionary and married it to the part of me that is a Reverend.  I kept wearing the skirts but I put it on with red lipstick.  I was uber loyal to the church, but I also learned to take a vacation.  My music now reflects the fact that I have more to offer life than comparing myself to others. I listen to music with no words and sometimes I even listen to artist no one knows but me and God. It is good to know that I changed and that it was a change for the better.  You can see it in my music choice.  I am laughing now.  I'll end this with a smile.  It really has been a wonderful life.