Friday Feels: Repeat the Sounding Joy
By: Jeremiah Mayfield
Tags: Change, Joy, Inspiration, Optimism, Hope

Soy un cantate. I am a singer. It is one of the first phrases I learned in Spanish.

For the first 28 years of my life on this planet it was my identity. I was a singer. And more than that I was a choral singer. Singing in choirs and ensembles has always been and will always be my favorite way to practice my instrument.

A dear friend of mine said this week that “there’s a great bit of joy that comes with singing with a group; harmonizing…it’s joy to your ears, joy to your soul.”

I couldn’t agree more.

When you’re a choral singer there’s nothing more fun than Christmastime. I grew up very religious and December was spent mostly in church, and for me that meant up in the choir loft with my fellow cantates joining our voices in song. It was magical.

When you sing with a group of people something mysterious happens and what comes out is something more than just the sum of your parts. It’s a wholly-other sound, amplified and transformed. And not even the most talented individual singer could create it solely on their own.

There’s likely a lesson in there of why I love leading teams — it’s much like conducting a choir. It brings me back to my roots.

At Christmas you sing carols. These songs usually tell the story of Christmas or perhaps focus on a particular aspect of the season. Growing up my favorite carol was Hark, The Herald Angels Sing. It’s the song at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life when George is realizing the lessons of the movie — “No one is a failure who has friends.”

But this year, as I nestle into my couch with my cup of coffee and gaze at the Christmas tree in the still of the morning each day, a different carol is playing in my ears — Joy to the World.

And more specifically a particular line in that song which continues to fill my ears — a call to “repeat the sounding joy.”

Let’s be honest — joy has been hard to come by in 2020.

It’s not easily found on Amazon and it’s been out of stock on Instacart.

Joy can only be found inside us. We have to make it. And we create joy by looking for it, finding it, and repeating it for others to see as well.

Joy in sharing pictures of children singing to grandparents through windows because of love and care.

Joy in the eyes of nurses and doctors with the marks of their masks imprinted into their faces.

Joy in the surprised faces on Zoom baby shower parties.

If you think about it, there’s actually been quite a bit of joy in 2020.

The trick is we have to “repeat the sounding joy” if we want it to take root.

Sometimes repeating the sounding joy looks like happy posts on Instagram for the whole world to see.

Sometimes repeating the sounding joy is highly personal like showing up and singing in front of people’s houses.

Sometimes repeating the sounding joy is offering grace to colleagues when you could choose to be upset.

Sometimes repeating the sounding joy can look like doing the dishes so your husband can rest with some wine on the couch after dinner (thank you, Carlosito).

But in a year filled with so much that could rob us of joy…there it still is…creeping in…showing up…as it gets repeated over and over by folks who choose joy and hope over fear and cynicism.

So whether you’re gazing at Christmas trees in the cool of the morning, lighting the menorah with little ones, creating your first diya, or simply sending a note to someone you love, this season is for repeating the sounding joy.

And I hope you have time to reflect as we rush toward the new year on all the things that we have to be joyful about and carry into 2021, so we can repeat the sounding joy yet again.

Thank you for being a source of joy for me in 2020, mi gente.

Love,

JM

#fridayfeels