When Songs Change

Lil dude Oscar, my 3/4 size acoustic.

I wrote a song called Turmoil in 2002. My friend Benj composed the music for it. It's angsty, sure, but not in the typical teenager sense. At the time I was trying to figure out how to walk with a friend in their suffering. It fit the season, which was gut-wrenching.
I picked up my guitar for the first time in ages last night, tuned it up, and started strumming through old ditties. But when I began the chords for Turmoil, a strange thought hit me. The words and emotions in the song felt foreign. I even toyed with writing new verses because the old ones simply don't fit. There's more to say. Twelve years dramatically alters your grasp of wrestling with your own soul, to say the least.
This week I've been thinking about how God renews our minds. When necessary, he changes our songs. Sometimes he just changes the style. Other times, he completely rewrites a wailing ballad into a jumpy six-count swing.