Be Optimistic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpvAil65yJc


"I know the storms and strife crowd up your outlook on life. Just think ahead and you’ll be inspired to reach higher and higher."
-Sounds of Blackness - Optimistic


I have always loved the song "Optimistic" by The Sounds of Blackness. I remember when the song came out in 1991 and I was immediately drawn to it. I first heard it on the way to Dallas and wondered who sung the song. I remember finally watching the video on Video Soul and I was just in awe of this large number of people singing. It was like the first time I saw a mainstream Choir nationally. It resonated with me. I remember always stopping whatever I was doing whenever the video came on. I found myself playing the song whenever I felt the need not knowing then that twenty years later what an impact the song would have on my life. …

Fast forward to the present day. Last night I played the video and when it got to the 4th solo by Sounds of Blackness member Patricia Lacy-Aiken I did not even realize that I had tears flowing down my face. For some reason that verse (see above) always gets me. I think it was because in the video Patricia had a warm and nurturing smile on her face as she was saying “Just think ahead and you’ll be inspired.” Tears were flowing down my face because of everything that I had been through recently with the loss of my Grandmother and Aunt, losing my job, and just feeling pretty low. I was not crying because of the situations, I was crying because I was feeling better. My pain was lifting. I felt like God was giving me a sign that a new season was coming.

I was also crying because I thought back to a few years ago, when I lost another job and someone close to me that night instead of encouraging me basically ridiculed me and made me feel even worse for losing my job, I felt sad until I remembered the song that had gotten me through so many difficult times. For that negativity, I popped up the video and saw a family of encouraging voices telling me, “You will always do your best, if you learn to never say never. You may be down but you’re not out.” I felt like they were also telling me, “Do not listen to that person. You are somebody, you matter, and God has you.” No, I never thought that when I first heard the song twenty years ago that it would still be such a force in my life today. For the last few weeks, I had not been inspired to write anything because of everything I had been through but thankful to God that he brought this song back into my life, it has inspired me once again to keep on moving and keep it pushing. The tears also came from revelation that God put this song in my life twenty-two years ago because he knew what my story was going to be and he knew I would need it. Isn’t it amazing how God works?

Mary J. Blige credits this song as one of the songs that got her through some of her darkest days and over the last few days I have read countless other stories of how the song saved people dealing with depression, struggling with grief, and having thoughts of suicide, it literally saved their lives. I read an interview where Sounds of Blackness bandleader Gary Hines said a woman rushed the stage to give him a note. The note said that the song saved her because she was struggling with the loss of her mother it saved her life.
As the song encouraged me, I want to use it to encourage you today. The video is included. Think of it as a family of people encouraging you and singing, “You can win, as long as you keep your head to sky…”

Music is truly a healer. It touches the soul through levels one can never imagine.

BE OPTIMISTIC!!