Vocal

BEAUTIFUL SOUND – words & music L. Metz – Where I live, Springtime brings a phenomenon which inspired this song.

THAT’S JUST RETAIL – words & music L. Metz – Among my ‘starving artist jobs’ have been several in retail. What I enjoy most about retail is meeting and helping people. In 2 of my retail jobs (the health food store and the Nat’l Park) I’ve loved what I was selling. But issues arise, so many issues, and that’s when we simply say “that’s just retail.” It was at just such a time that this song bubbled up in me!

COULD’A BEEN A BUDDHIST – words & music L. Metz – I’m not a Buddhist but I find that many of my lifestyle choices seem more culturally Buddhist than Christian.  I struggled with this dichotomy until realizing that these lifestyle choices aren’t Buddhist or Christian. These are, in my opinion, simply Jesus things… things like reverencing life in all of its forms, caring for the environment, and caring about ‘my temple’ by sticking to a healthy diet.

Over the years there have been Christians who poked fun at my lifestyle choices. I realize Christians these days are a lot more health conscious, diet conscious, and environmentally aware and I need to let go of my knee-jerk to the past. But back to the title of this post, and the title of my song…

Could I really have been a Buddhist? Theologically speaking, the answer is yes and no.

Free will says yes, I ‘could’a been a Buddhist’ or anything else I might choose to be. Predestination says no, it was decided a long time ago… predetermined from the foundations of the world what I would become.

I actually believe both. A little mind-twisting perhaps, but I accept it as one of the great mysteries of life and faith. A favorite expression in divinity school was ‘it’s not either/or, it’s both/and’. I think that applies here.

This song, which I loved writing, hopefully covers both options. These lyrics sum me up pretty well. As my dear friend Janice, who helped me record it, says “This song is so you!” Perhaps so. I especially love the bird who finessed a beautiful duet with me in the first strains of the song.