Why I Can't Hum at the Mall

“Be filled with the Spirit…singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:18-19

My father loved to whistle. I never knew the tunes he was whistling, but I did think it was cute when I was a kid. It wasn’t until years later that I learned Grandma Reese thought whistling was a sin. Turns out, my dad’s whistling was a subtle act of rebellion!

I, on the other hand, love to hum. And no, it’s not an act of rebellion. Rather, humming for me is a subtle way to worship when I walk.

I’ve been walking almost daily for decades now. In the past, it was for just fifteen or twenty minutes. But a couple of years ago I injured my left knee and I learned that walking can be helpful. So I increased my daily walks from twenty minutes to fifty minutes and, sure enough, my knee healed very well.

There are other benefits as well: my blood pressure and sugar levels dropped significantly and I do better maintaining my weight.

Another huge benefit of these long walks is that I have more time to worship the Lord. And the way I worship when I walk is to hum Christian hymns and choruses. Worship isn’t something I set out to do when I walk. Rather, it’s something I wind up doing as I walk. It’s simply spontaneous. When I look at creation, my natural response is to hum hymns of praise from my heart to God. Walking is enjoyable. But walking with worshipful humming is exhilarating.

What’s interesting, though, is that, since I live in Denver, walking outside isn’t always possible in the winter. So on really frigid days I go to Flatiron Mall in Broomfield or Denver Mills Mall in Golden. And guess what? I find it very difficult to hum at the mall. There’s the ever present ambient music, the enticing window displays, the sales, the fancy architecture. None of it inspires me to worship God. The mall is an interesting place to be, but it’s not a worshipful place to be.

Hum. Maybe it’s telling me something.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.