Channel surfing the other day, I came upon a segment of the Katie Couric show. Her guests were those who produced a documentary on music and the mind, or what they called ALIVE INSIDE. It was the discovery of the effect of music on those who are going through Alzheimer’s and dementia in our elders of today. After seeing that presentation, I now choose to use the words ELDERS because of the respect that the word brings to those who have lived long enough to live life to its fullest. Those that understand the past and its affect on the future. Music is a big part of that understanding. Music is a trigger in remembering special times at any age.
Years ago, my family used music to bring me back from an illness which kills many, and few survive. That story is chronicled on my blog titled Victory Over Sepsis.
We have had many blog readers who have asked about the music/hymns that have been on Facebook and where they can find them. They are listed HERE on my blog in alphabetical order. (Jana spent many hours gathering them from FB.) I have long enjoyed and been encouraged by the songs of my youth and younger years. Now I find that those songs keep me from sinking into a deep abyss. Songs of the faith pierce the heart and soul when all the pain and medicines pull you far away.
Recently, our friend Linda Askin brought a video of her mother playing the piano. You might think, “Well, how nice … she is 104 years young, cute as she can be, and still recalling the notes that fill the room with music. She plays classical easily, but mainly she plays hymns that are forever in her memory and in her heart – songs that gave her strength throughout the years.
On the Katie show today, the men had shared their discovery of how music opens a side door for those who have been stolen from life by dementia and Alzheimer’s. Music has long brought many back into the present by making a connection to their past.
The power of the Christian songs in our past places us in the present . . . places us in the presence of the Lord. We are alive inside because we serve a Christ who is ever so present.