Finishing the Song

Paul Baloche describes the process of bringing a song to completion in the episode titled "Finishing Your Song" of his Youtube worship leading series. At the point where many of the features of the song have been written, Baloche points out the need to go back and nitpick each line. While the early stages of songwriting mainly consist of simply putting thoughts and tunes onto paper, this part of the process brings out the technical aspect of songwriting. Baloche mentions factors, such as word repetition, relevance, and, most importantly, theological correctness, that he considers at this juncture of the songwriting journey. 

Nitpicking may seem tedious, boring, and sometimes irrelevant, but it's a necessary step to produce a worthwhile product. Baloche highlights the effect of "refining" through the analogy of shaving the fat off meat. Pursuing refinement is part of the pursuit of perfection. Whether it be our songs, our work, or our faith, consistently seeking to be a little bit better at all times puts us on track to be the best version of ourselves. We shouldn't go through life with a "that's good enough" mentality. Jesus was far more than "good enough", and if we truly aspire to be like him in every aspect of life, we must have minds set on conforming to his perfect image. 

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