"Many people die with their music still in them." -Oliver Wendell Holmes

The most important questions that men and women throughout the world can ask themselves during their life on earth is "Who am I?", "Why am I here?", and "Where did I come from?”  Why do we not take the time to pause "life" and search out the answers to these questions with more urgency? 



There are countless distractions all around us.  Even while I sit here writing this post, in hopes to share my thoughts, I am tempted by a "push notification" on my phone for Google +.  They, the distractions, are everywhere.  Why is it that we let things that don't matter, and maybe even things that are important but not priority consume our time and thoughts instead of listening to our conscience and seeking answers to these vital questions? 



I heard a quote a couple of months ago that I cannot get out of my head.  It says "Don't die with your Music still in you".  This quote has deep meaning, and if anyone stops to think about it's meaning they will come to realize that the invitation of this quote is to first, find your "Music" or purpose, and second, to live according to that purpose.  I have grown to love this quote very much and wanted to find, if possible, the source of the quote.  I discovered, and I hope this is accurate, that this deep thought was given by Oliver Wendell Holmes (8/29/1809-10/7/1894), and has been modified throughout years.  Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out. 



Why do many of us die with our Music still in us?  The consequence of living a life with our music locked inside is "regret".  Because I don't want to live a life that I will look back on and regret, I am motivated by this idea and have made it priority in my life to discover my Music and to begin to sing, and sing loud! 



Now if any of you know me, you already know that I am an absolutely horrendous singer... seriously; However, I love to sing!  I feel so bad for my beautiful wife Alisha having to sit next to me in church each Sunday because when I sing, I sing loud.  If I am going to sing songs of worship then I want them to penetrate the gates of Heaven so that Heavenly Father knows that I love Him.  I understand that God can hear me without my loud singing (shouting), but I want to make sure that I am proving to Him that my heart and energy are in my songs.  Why don't I sing my song or share my music with my time that I am allotted during the day?  Why do I waste my time in front of TV or the news at night?  Why am I not "Singing" when I already know the Music that I need to "Sing"? 



What is my "Music"?  There could be many possibilities and answers to this questions...  for example, I love my family very much and being a good Husband and Father are priority goals in my life.  I love sports...  I still hold on to this idea that I can indeed become the first 40 year old man to skip college ball and declare myself eligible for the NBA (Could you imagine).  I also love to travel and would love to see the whole wide world.  All of these are good things, and being a good Husband and Father is vital so couldn't this be my Music?  I believe that it can, "it" of course meaning Father and Husband, and I believe that it should, but I have come to discover that even more then that (being a good Husband and Father) if I don't make my "Music" line up with my Heavenly Fathers music than I have not lived my true purpose and sung my true song.  If I fail to sing my true song, wouldn't that make me less of a Father and a Husband than I could, and should be?!  I believe that it does.  So what is my true Music?



My true Music is this... "I am a child of God, and He has sent me here.", "If I but learn to do His will, I'll live with Him some day".  I have come to know with absolute surety that God is real, that He loves each of us more than we comprehend, and that there is a reason that we are here on this earth.  He loves us so much that He gives us the gift of "will", and with "will" comes free agency.  He created this earth for us as the perfect institution for us to be "proven in all things", whether we will choose Him and His way or some other way, and any other way leads to unhappiness.  By trial and error He allows us to choose and even make mistakes and that is why we have an absolute need for a Savior.  A Savior that willingly and voluntarily offered Himself as a sacrifice for the remission of our sins, and to "break the bands of death" and make possible the miracle of the resurrection.  That Savior is Jesus Christ.  He is "the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father" but by Him. 

Jesus Christ created this earth and everything on it, and in return as He came to this earth to fulfill His mission "we" cursed Him, spit on Him, mocked Him, and even crucified Him.  Of course when I say "we" I know that it wasn't you or I literally, but I wonder sometimes if my sins against another in today's time would have been a stone thrown from my hand at Him back then. 



This, this is My Music!  This is my desire, and passion!  I have never done anything in my life that has lit me on fire like learning of Christ and bearing my soul and testimony to everyone and anyone who will listen that He does absolutely live, and that He is more involved in our lives than we understand.  I have made it my goal and my mission in this life to live my passion and mission, and to sing and sing as loud as possible so that when I look back on my life here on earth I know that during my mortal probation here on earth, however long I am given, I gave Him everything that I am to make my will line up with His and to be an instrument in His hands to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of Man".  Now please don't miss interpret what my desires are...  I know that in and of myself, I am nothing, but submitting my will to His will and perfect way allows Him to use me for the exact reasons and according to the talents that He has blessed me with.  This is Greatness!  I believe that there is no other way to achieve Greatness, other than to allow Him to use us and work through us to bring to pass His divine purposes. 

Last thought...  When I was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I found a scripture that I have fallen in love with which reads,   "His Mission is given unto him, and it shall not be given again." (Doctrine and Covenants 58:16).  We only have one opportunity at this life here on earth.  The choice is yours... What will you choose?  "As for me and my House", I choose Him and I will give all that I am and have to return home,  with my family, to Him the One who has given His all for me to repay a debt that I could not pay myself.  When I die I plan to have no voice left because of fatigue from over singing and letting my Music fill the air... This is my purpose!