Music, trust, and faith: Amy Grant: Mosaic

Mosaic works as a descriptive title for Amy Grant's book: there are essays, reflections, stories, poetry, and song lyrics new and old.

It’s not necessary to know anything about Grant’s music, or to like it if you do, to enjoy her often funny vignettes of things she has learned from bringing up her children, or her poignant reflection on connecting with her stepdaughter, or stories of how she learned a lesson from a deer or met an unexpected source of support at the state fair.

Grant’s faith is front and center, but it’s no stained glass or holier than thou belief: it’s the story of hard won lessons, and recognition that she -- and we-- do not know all the answers, and sometimes the only answer is trust. Grant has a gentle, humorous, reflective style that suits this sort of storytelling well. Some sections work better than others, of course.


It would be easy for someone of Grant’s public life and fame to be self indulgent or just skim the surface: she doesn’t. One gets the impression that Grant has too much of a sense of humor for that to happen, for one thing, and she also has along with that a humility born of her faith. At one point she says

“This is trust: doing what you believe you are called to do and trusting that God will provide. But here’s where it gets personal: God provides through people. Am I willing to be connected to the people in my world, the people at work, the people in my house, the people I encounter in the everyday patterns of living? Am I open to the possibility of my gifts touching another life? My life touching another: the domino effect of God’s goodness rippling through so many lives is a far reaching concept.”

All sorts of stuff like that in the book. Well worth the read.

Music to go along with this:
Legacy: Hymns and Faith
and
Behind the Eyes
are the Grant recordings I like best. In many ways they are very different: Behind the Eyes includes a number of songs she wrote while dealing with her divorce; Legacy: Hymns and Faith comprises songs of faith that will be familiar to anyone who grew up in the American south, along with well chosen originals. They both show a woman who
thinks about her faith, and knows that it encompasses both struggle and celebration.



you may also wish to see
music and trust
music, silence, and spiritual journey

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