When great thoughts swell

Friday, July 26th marked the beginning of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. I’m not usually one to geek out about things like that, but Godfrey’s (one of my favorite eateries right now) sent out an email announcing a livestream of the opening ceremony on their 16’ long TV wall to “put you in the heart of France.” They also advertised food and drink specials like a Brut Rosé from Lorraine and Paris-Brest pastry. My son was away serving as a camp counselor and my hubby was busy, so I decided to take my dad.

The place was busy, but luckily, we found a parking spot and a table. The food was delicious, as usual (my dad asked if it was rude to lick his fingers), but we unfortunately didn’t time our arrival well. We were a whole hour early for the opening ceremony and didn’t feel like waiting around. So after finishing our lunch, we left.

By the time I got home and turned on the TV, the ceremony was nearing its finale. Troops of athletes in the pouring rain passed the flaming torch from one to another. After the final pass, a cauldron at the base of a hot air balloon was lit, which then rose above the Paris skyline. 

Magical.

As the balloon rose and the music swelled, the perspective shifted to the Eiffel Tower. Celine Dion and her accompanist, David Foster, were preparing for the grand finale: a cover of Édith Piaf’s “Hymne à l'amour.”

I stood awestruck as I watched Celine Dion, dressed in a gorgeous white gown, singing her heart out.

Charlotte Mason, in Ourselves, writes about music like that. She wrote, “The people listen, and great thoughts swell in them, and everyone feels as if he could get up and go and be a hero.”

In the comments that followed the posting of the performance on YouTube, one viewer (@highro13) wrote, “This is a moment where you go ‘where were you when Celine Dion sang her heart into the night on the edge of the Eiffel Tower in the pouring rain?’ Another (@Squirmish999) posted, “When you look at all the factors, this has to be considered one of the greatest live performances in human history.”

“Hymne à l'amour,” a hymn of love, speaks to our most heartfelt need: to be loved, without condition, just as we are. It’s the kind of love that Paul wrote about in his letter to the Ephesians…

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…” – Ephesians 2:4-5

What is educative about this song? Why is it worthy to be mentioned at all?

Because we need to be reminded from time to time what it is we are capable of. What it is that is within us.

Later in Ourselves, Mason writes of every human being, child, or man that “...so much in the way of goodness, greatness, heroism, wisdom and knowledge, is possible to us all.”  

Let us listen again and be reminded of all that is possible to us.

Let us listen again, get up, and go and be heroes.

Affectionately,

Krise