What's Your Walk-up Song?

Mine doesn't have the energy you might want to face a daunting pitcher. Or the crowd-gathering handclap we long for watching empty stadiums and listening to fake roars. Still, it's special to me. If I were to be introduced, I have a special song.

It's Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful to Me.

God has used this song a few times in my life, completely unexpectedly, and completely out of the blue. Kind of woo-woo, and kind of kind at the same time.
 
The first time was probably the most significant. I was a senior in high school, lying in my bed at night, having moody and manipulative thoughts (as high school girls do!). I was trying to figure out how to get off the Homecoming Court. I could not fathom walking out onto the football field with the beautiful girls in my class. I wondered if I should pretend to be sick that night? 

Lying there in the dark, with my clock radio on the local station, You Are So Beautiful to Me came on. I kid you not. I was a Christian of maybe 2 years and very eager to follow Jesus. Somehow in the voice of Joe Cocker, I heard Jesus: “You are so beautiful to me. Can’t you see? You’re everything I hoped for, everything I need. You are so beautiful to meeeee . . . .” 

You’re beautiful in your doubts, He said.
 
Maybe 10 years later, as I bought my first home—a condo on Lake Underhill in Orlando—I was quite anxious. I was sitting in my black Honda Accord outside the bank. I was holding a massive (to me) check about to deposit the money for a down payment. I was alone and overwhelmed. What if something happens and I miss a payment? I thought, This is all up to me.  

I hadn’t planned on buying my first home by myself. Certainly, this was something you do as a young married couple, eager to fill it with all your new wedding presents, joyful and together. However, I was anxious and alone. 
 
So, I gathered up my tiny courage and entered the bank lobby. Playing like elevator music throughout the Bank of America was our friend Joe Cocker: “You are so beautiful to me . . . .” I kid you not. I stopped in my tracks in that lobby and took it in. My courage grew like the Grinch’s heart.

You’re beautiful in your fears, He said.  
 
A few years later, driving in my car after yet another breakup, I was weeping. Turning the corner onto my street, my cheeks wet with sadness and hurt, Joe came on the radio. I kid you not. “You are so beautiful to me,” Jesus sang with Joe. 

You’re beautiful in your pain, He said.

Did you know God sings over you? That your life is a song, measured and metered, meant just for you? There's a chorus of love inviting you to know you're beautiful in your doubts, your fears, and your pain.

JUDY