What if No One's Watching?

I have two friends, both of whom very much enjoy singing and who sing well. One of them is a very old friend, one is a fairly new friend. Both are far too many miles away. Both have voices I wish I could hear more often.

Until just the past few days, both also had something I envied very, very much. I have always wanted to be able to sing. My mother loves to sing, but can't hold a tune; I inherited both attributes and started belting things out at an early age. I have been told to shut up, that I "can't sing" my whole life. After years of that, I still sing, but never when other people can hear me.

Well I've decided I am going to sing. It came to me that it wasn't the actual voices of my two friends that I was envying as much as it was their ability to let loose, to fill the air around them with the joy or the pain in their songs. Though she was not addressing me when she said it, one of my friends was recently talking about singing in church, and she pointed out that what the Book says is to "make a joyful noise." Well, my noise may well not be on tune, or even anywhere approximating it, but it will be joyful.