When I'm Driving into Eternity

When I'm driving I usually have some type of music or sermon going on...

I've been known to be a girl who plays the same songs over and over... and over :D
Mom or sis are always requesting a different cd ha ha... but for some reason I don't tire of listening to the same music. These are some of the songs that I listen to over and over:

Arms Open Wide- Hillsong United
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
This is Our God- Hillsong
I Exalt Thee
I Will Exalt You- Hillsong
Sing to the Lord- Hillsong
Like Incense/Sometimes by Step- Hillsong
Albertine- Brooke Fraser
Beautiful Exchange- Hillsong
El Aire de Tu Casa- Jesus Adrian Romero
Mi Universo- Jesus Adrian Romero
Oh Lord, You're Beautiful- Jesus Culture
I Surrender All
Amazing Grace
Captivate Us- Watermark
Who Are We Fooling? (And Brooke Fraser's music in total)
Hallelujah- Bethany Dillon
Only Hope- Switchfoot

And there's a ton more but these are the ones that are usually repeated... and maybe I like the melody of the songs but what stands out to me are the lyrics... what's the message? If the melody is beautiful and the lyrics are horrid or make no sense to me... then I discard it. That song's "vibrance" so-to-speak or its meaningfulness, if it has any, will easily and hastely fade away. Like a beautiful person; if they have rotten insides, then the outside and all its shine is superficially built because what's inside lasts longer than what we can see. So if you are to judge a song, judge it by its lyrics for THERE lies its meaning.
That's my reason for the over-usage of the "Repeat" button with those songs... poor button ha ha. I can sing them over and over and over and not once do I get tired of it.

Now, entering the matter of hymns.
Hymns are known to be "old", outdated, boring, too slow.
Ha ha, and in fact I LOVE hymns. Yes I do :)
I dunno... like when I first heard "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" I just remained still and closed my eyes. Such a beautiful hymn speaking about what we should be focused on. This is a portion of a hymn written in the 1920s, still applicable today in this day and age. How? It speaks truth, from His word. Because His word is applicable ALWAYS. Hymns drip with the truth of Jesus Christ! They express a prayer of mine. Like "I Surrender All," "I Exalt Thee," "Amazing Grace," or simply songs that demonstrate qualities of the Lord: love, forgiveness, purity, surrender, living a holy life... what He's done, what He offers.
Maybe I just love hymns because they've stood the test of time. They still stand true today and I can open my mouth to sing along because they AREN'T outdated. They're so modern actually.

NOW entering the topic of repetition... because I tend to wonder why I replay songs over and over without getting jaded. And just saying, "It's because I like them... they're my favorite" doesn't seem to quite answer my question: why is it that I replay these songs over and other people prefer to hear other songs?

Hillsong has the tendency to repeat a verse in their songs over and over. Why? To emphasize a point. To linger in that specific moment, statement, words, thought. To dive in, go deeper. To seriously consider what is being said or sung. To absorb it into your mind and heart. To meditate on it. It's not just to make a song longer or fill in some more seconds of the track. If that were the case, then the band would just sing, "La la la's." There's something about repeating the songs that I tend to repeat that aids and reminds and refreshes the soul. I come to understand more of who the Lord is. It is in the meditation of His word as well as the dwelling and the repeated confession of that one verse, where He ministers to us.

So hymns are in reality up-to-date because the Lord is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Replaying songs 7 times in a row never gets old because His messages are never dull or fading.
     There's more than enough time to think about Him and consider His ways.
          So take that time because it ripples into eternity.