Something that was said...spurred within me...this essay-of-sorts addressing numerous aspects of the power of musical inspiration.

While sitting in church last Sunday, I was reminded of the wondrous power of music. Band/Praise leader, Andy David, said something during the service that initially just spurred within me an acknowledging, "Huh, that's neat." But that nugget of inspiration grew such that I decided I might update my various online statuses to mention it to others via that medium. But as I started typing, a 5-part essay addressing numerous aspects of the power of musical inspiration seemed to write itself. With each word typed, David's suggestion that day was more powerfully reinforced—the essence appropriately that a seemingly small gesture might inspire greater things, and that the owner of the initial gesture may or may not ever realize the impact they have had.

This concept is not new to me. Coming off the heels of Barack Obama's record-setting fundraising efforts being fueled by sub-$100 donations, we have all seen that the cliché'd "little things" do, in fact, mean a great deal. Along that train of thought, I should perhaps not solely credit this to David. His words brought about a noted acknowledgment. But then there was the middle-aged man clapping along to a contemporarily arranged praise song, his rhythm not remotely coinciding with that of the music. And then an older woman who looked around the congregation as if to seek someone's approval before attempting to clap along herself. And a credit to the general inspiration felt in any worship service is certainly due.

Perhaps this line of thought isn't compelling enough to feed a multi-part essay/article/blog, or whatever form this ends up taking. But who am I to judge which minuscule phrase I type might or might not change someone's life, or perhaps create a new nugget of new thought that sends a ripple of thought through the air, and that ripple shakes a butterfly slightly off course, blah blah chaos theory blah blah? A hopefully more coherent Pt. 2 to follow.