I’ve never used Shuffle.

I have different playlists for different purposes. My M.O. is as follows: when I’m going into the zone, I’ll select a few songs, anywhere from 5 to 15 and create my playlist. Then I’ll let the songs play according to my specifications, and if I so desire, I’ll just keep a song that I’m really feeling on repeat indefinitely and when I’m ready to switch to another tune I do.

I introduced some friends to this music site that allows users to create and share playlists comprised of any song from their extensive database. Yesterday, I was studying (all I’m doing these days – one month to go!) and a friend made a playlist with over 150 great inspirational songs; classics, recent and some I’ve never heard and let it play on shuffle.

The playlist was on shuffle. I’ve never used shuffle.

Although, at times, I can appear to be spontaneous or go with the flow, in some respects, I’m a pretty calculated planner and accustomed to knowing what is next in the foreseeable future, music included. I just realized that the lack of a plan or deviating too far off a set course was a pet peeve. But I’m adapting.

In a sense, I also attempt to create a playlist for seasons in life, with the limited songs I can recall, in an order I think is most suitable for me.

In the playlist of life, God is the DJ, but sometimes we request the songs we want to hear, or we become an unqualified acting DJ, playing the songs we think are best. Meanwhile, I’ll hear a song that I wasn’t even thinking of at all and it just ministers to me perfectly. That was the exact song I needed to hear but I never would have known that, letting my life play with the songs I chose.

It’s good to have plans but I need to just let the songs of life play on “shuffle.” What seems to our limited understanding as a shuffle is actually a precise, unique and creative order created by our Creator. And of course it turns out to be a better playlist than any list we could have created.

Life is a musical, life is a melody. I need to sing along after God’s lead or I’ll constantly be off key.