When a woman in a certain African Yoan tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they sing, chant, and meditate until they hear ‘the song of that child.’ They believe that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique identity and purpose. When the women become attuned to the song, they sing it out loud. Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else.

When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child’s song to the child. Later, when the child’s formal education begins, the village gathers and chants the special song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come together and sing. At the time of marriage, the newlyweds hear their songs sung once again.

Finally, when a soul is about to pass from existence, family and friends gather around the deathbed and, just as they did at the birth, they sing their song as a part of “being with” the departing one at the very end of life.

In this African tribe, there is one other occasion when it is customary for the villagers to gather and sing a person’s soul-song. If at any time during that life, the person commits a crime, the individual is called to the centre of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them. Then they sing their song.

The tribe recognises that the best correction for problematic behavior is often not punishment or rejection; it is love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognise your own song being sung by your own community, whatever overwhelming hungers or frightening threats to your self that may have motivated selfish, angry, destructive, or chaotic action are diminished; your sense of identity is reaffirmed and your self regains its cohesiveness; you remember who you are and why you do not wish to cause hurt to your family, friends, and other members of your own tribe.

A friend in Christ is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it. Those who love you are not fooled enough by your sins and mistakes to forget who you are. They help you remember your beauty when you feel ugly, your wholeness when you are broken, your innocence when you feel guilty and your purpose when you are confused.

When you feel good “” vitally alive, whole, solid “” what you do matches your song; when you feel awful, it doesn’t.

A new friend told me this beautiful tradition just now, and I had to write it up…
God is singing your song over you right now, whether you ‘deserve’ it ‘hear’ it, resonate with it, or ignore it.
And the same God is singing my song over me!