Working in a restaurant can be very stressful at any job you might be working back in the kitchen. I have had nights that seemed to last forever, and I thought I was never going home. As a disher, when the dishes keep coming and never seem to stop, there is a point where you just kind of give up and you acknowledge the fact that you won't be getting into bed until about midnight, even though you close at ten.
I distinctly remember a night where I was trying so hard to get out on time. I was in such a hurry that when I put the rack of silverware on the counter, I didn't put it up all the way, and the whole thing capsized and a whole rack of clean silverware scattered all over the floor. Which meant that I had to rewash it all. You can imagine my frustration and distress. In the effort to get out sooner, I only managed to ensure that I stay longer. Angry at myself and tired from a long night, I got in my car at the height of my distress, I was falling apart.
As I started to drive, the radio was on 91.3 WCSG. A song came on, I don't even remember which one anymore, but it calmed me down and made me think about other things, rather than my terrible night. It was a christian song. That made a difference because it was a song that turned me from my own thoughts about my night and myself and turned me instead to thought of God and what He has done in my life. It made me see how small my one terrible night really was and helped me get past it. To see past it.
This was not the only night that this kind of thing happened. I have had a lot of terrible nights at work. A lot of nights that I want to just scream at the world and let my anger take over, dissolve into a self-pitying rage. However, I have learned to let the music calm me and show me that it is never as bad as I think it is. Along with this, I turn on the radio and trust that the right song will come on to show me what I can't see in that moment. Trust in God to put the right song on for me in my moment of blindness.
For me this can only be done with Christian music. Christian music has so much more meaning and can better be applied to life. Don't get me wrong; I do listen to the popular stations. I sing along loudly with Taylor Swift and Adele. I'll even go country every now and then. But I've noticed that so many of those songs are about living life as if you have nothing to worry about. Love, spend, do whatever you want, as if you have it all. Sure, it's a fun idea, it's fun to sing with and to believe that you can do, or have the things the song presents. But when the notes end, you're back to your life, and what you actually have, or what you don't. I might sing along with Adele's "Hello," but I do not have an ex who's heart I broke. I might belt out "Honey I'm Good," but I would never be in the kind of situation that the song was written around.
I will not deny that some of the songs on non-Christian stations can have some deeper meaning beyond the superficial YOLO feel. And I have some favorites on that side of music. However, the majority of my favorite songs are Christian music. Those are the songs that I hear when I am in the most need of comfort. The ones that I know God meant for me to hear. The ones that He speaks to me through.
So listen to the music that happens to play on your radio after a bad day. You might hear something that you really need to hear. You might be brought to see something that you had been denying, or to be reminded of a truth you had forgotten. God is with us always and watches us at all times. He knows what we need to hear, and He can work in any and every means.
