Do you ever wake up with a question on your mind? I confess that my days are often filled with wonderings, which I suppose most people would pigeonhole into a “who cares” category. Rarely, though, are my first thoughts of the morning about how things work. But yesterday was one such morning.

As I stirred in my twilight-zone sleep, aware that it was now morning yet still clinging onto the last cozy moments of sleep, I realized that I had been laying there wondering, “How is music recorded onto a vinyl record so that it can be played back?” (Not your typical morning muse, I admit!) Once fully awake, as I began my morning that thought came back several times. I began to think the Lord wanted me to learn the answer to my question, and so I did. 

It was very interesting to learn about the early models of recordings, the first of which couldn’t even be played back! And did you know that Thomas Edison’s first phonograph used tin foil wrapped around a cylinder? It worked great, except for the fact that the tin foil didn’t last very long. Well, a few different inventors got involved and over time the record player as we know it finally came to be. In the process of learning those interesting tidbits, I found my answer. What follows is this retired kindergarten teacher’s scaled down interpretation of that answer.

Sound is a vibration of particles through air. It travels in waves. The early inventors devised a way to allow those sound waves to move a needle. Each movement of the needle, whether left or right, fast or slow, etc. was due to a specific sound wave. After positioning a sharp needle over a flat vinyl disk, a crank was turned, causing the disk to rotate as a song was sung or an instrument was played. The needle would move along, delicately etching into the disk a recording of the vibrations—the very sound waves—that were causing it to wiggle. As the needle was ever so slightly vibrating on the vinyl, it was imprinting a groove. 

 All the human eye will see on a record disc is a smooth path.

But under a powerful microscope, actual “waves” with slight, seemingly random variations in size or direction can be seen. Each deviation is a recording of a sound that was louder or softer, higher pitched or lower than the previous sound. 

For the record to then recreate the beauty of the music that was played when it was recorded, the needle will travel in the grooves on the vinyl. The tiny waves it travels cause vibrations exactly like those that created the record. The vibrations create sound which is captured and then amplified through the record player. I’m always amazed when brilliant minds invent ways to play with God’s creations.

Having found the answer to my question, I began to ponder, leaning in to the Holy Spirit to see what He might be saying to me. Several times the next morning I heard, “…until Christ is formed in you…”. It’s from Galatians 4:19. “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you…”  I knew it was connected somehow and now I sense what God is showing me: A vinyl disk will only ever play back whatever music the needle’s vibrations had etched in it. In much the same way, my heart will only ever play back what has been “etched” into it. Jesus said, “For what has been stored up in your hearts will be heard in the overflow of your words! When virtue is stored within, the hearts of good, upright people will produce good fruit. But when evil is hidden within, those who are evil will produce evil fruit.” (Matthew  12:34b-35 TPT) 

Until Christ is fully formed in me the music that my soul plays, that my life plays, won’t quite be perfectly pitched, pleasantly harmonized, or rich in tone. It will carry dissonance, and thus won’t yet be a full expression of the One who has created me in His image.

Father God, how I need You to form Christ deeply within me, continuously recording Your lovingkindness and precepts until walking in the fruit of the Spirit becomes a Spirit-graced outflow of my love for You. Jesus, as I allow Your Word to influence who I am, be formed in me! Holy Spirit, whenever I read scripture remind me to come humbly before You, placing myself on Your “turntable”, allowing You to use the diamond needle of God’s Word to form the image of Christ into my life, verse by verse, groove after groove. Let everything—my conversation, my actions, and my motive—create a sound that reflects You. Lord, I want Your word to resonate within me. And as it resonates, let the ancient and eternal vibrations of Your spoken and written word be used to cut a groove on my heart that will forever play back only Jesus, the very Word of God!