It was really bad timing for a moment of doubt: right smack dab in the middle of singing the responsorial psalm for a wedding on Saturday. “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, forget not all God’s benefits.”
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What the heck does THAT mean, anyway? demanded the practical voice in my head. It’s just a bunch of pious platitudes.
Uh-oh, thought the I-am-a-professional-liturgy-director voice. Danger! Heresy in the house!
It’s amazing, how quickly a mental conversation takes place. Thoughts are complete instantaneously, and responded to just as instantaneously.
Just because you aren’t feeling those sentiments at this moment, scolded the Liturgist, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Even you, Miss Practical, have felt what the psalmist was trying to express at some point. I’m sure of it. Think about it for a minute.
She had a point. Upon a split second’s reflection, Miss Practical did indeed recognize the sensation the psalmist was expressing: the sense of being overwhelmed by gratitude and disbelief, the sense of awe at something so beautiful in your circumstances, something so completely beyond your own control that the only possible reaction is gratitude. In fact, there were several:
My first pregnancy, a burst of glory after three years of infertility.
The night I first kissed Christian.
Holding my first publication in my hands.
Unbelievable moments, one and all—and in every case, a moment when I knew that I was merely a conduit for something much bigger. A moment when I felt the Spirit overshadowing me, rushing upon me, and gifting me with…well, awe. A moment when my soul exploded into gratitude, and every fiber of my being expressed it in wordless, tuneless songs with one simple refrain: Praise.
Bless the Lord, oh my soul, indeed.
What has inspired those songs in your life?
Kathleen M. Basi 
Oh yes, I know those bursting song moments, too. Usually they are ephemeral and fleeting, and more often than not, not a “big” moment, but something ordinary made extraorindary. Examining a bug or butterfly with my kids. Glancing out my office window to see the sun striking golden on the backyard. Thanks for reminding me to keep my eyes open — these moments happen around me all the time, but I have to remember to look for them!