No One Told Me about Eva! - Light Dancing on the River

No one ever told me about Eva Cassidy. It’s shocking, I know, but only if you’re someone who already knows about Eva. Otherwise, let this be your day of Awakening. Yet, that’s just the way life is, isn’t it? We walk along in the half light of what we imagine is a pretty full knowledge of things, not realizing how fully in the dark we are. Thank God we have a great Friend who knows everything there is to know about what is good in life and who loves to help us make discoveries.

It happened for me in this way: I was grieving the death of my second wife, having learned from the grief I went through when my first wife died, that sad songs are some of your best friends when your heart is heavy. As you play those songs their tenderness conveys good things to you while the sadness in them helps you get in touch with the grief. Then, if you want to, you can offer your sorrow up to God and draw in the only One in the universe who is able to help you get to the other side of the Inward Devastation.

Songs Can Help You Grieve

You simply cannot do this with Christian songs. Quite rightly, they’re all about praise and joy because ours is a faith to celebrate. So, the first time around I reached for country songs to augment the old rock and roll songs we had loved together. Both genres conveyed a wallop and got the grief moving in the right direction. Or rather, it got the grief moving and then it was up to me to make sure it moved in the right direction, which was towards the Lord, rather than away from Him into self-pity. That’s always the choice.

This time around, however, I discovered soft jazz in the person of Eva Cassidy. I was on YouTube watching music videos from the two genres that had worked for me in the past, but you know, there is something about the Lord I’ve discovered. He gets bored with same old same old! Especially when He sees us falling into the pattern of “tried and true.” By His orchestration I’m sure, I “just happened” to notice in the scroll on the right-hand side a song that struck my curiosity. When I played it, I broke into tears.

How Had I Missed This?

The softness of her voice, the tenderness with which she sang, and the clear transcendence of her own grief through singing all burst powerfully upon me. I quickly bought a CD that holds the best collection of her most gentle and loving songs and played it till the cover came off. (Follow this link to Amazon if you’re interested.) So great was the revelation of this incredible songbird that I made a big thing of asking all my friends why no one had ever told me about Eva Cassidy. Some knew of her; some didn’t.

There’s no answer to the question of course. How do we know what another person knows or doesn’t know? Do you know Jesus? How would I know, unless you let Him show? And knowing Him is the Biggest Thing that can be known by any of us, yet I might not know it about you. Think of the time you first found out who Jesus is and what he can do. Could you keep quiet about it? No! You had to tell somebody!

And so it was, I had to talk about Eva. And so it is, that I’m talking about her still—through these words to you my friend. Now go make the discovery for yourself!

For more on grieving, see “Bring Grief to a Noble End” at our blog, A Heart Set Free.