All of a sudden I knew I needed a few fresh, new songs to run to. I don’t typically listen to Christian radio, as the songs seem to lean heavily toward melancholy and teenager angst. I wanted songs that were energized due to recognizing the joy of receiving God’s love. There is a time for quiet and reflection, but slow music while running is often frustrating. What I found works really well for chore time and dancing with grandkids, too. I have tested it for all these uses.

1. Good Morning by Mandissa starts my new playlist. I like good morning or good day songs, and I might not be the only one because there are several around. Here are some that I already had on my list:

• It’s A Good Day by FFH
• New Day sung by Joy Williams
• I may have to add Good Morning, George, from Veggie Tales.
• And if I was going to have a somewhat slower song, I would probably be one like Morning Comes When You Call by the 2nd Chapter of Acts

2. Funky Jesus Music by Toby Mac is the kind of song that makes me want more of the same. If everyone in the house is not sick of this song in a couple weeks, it won’t be my fault.

3. Shake by Mercy Me has been around, but I hadn’t purchased it. Silly me. I may have to make a video of Cori Lou and I dancing to it. She apparently had not seen me dance like that before, but she was delighted!

4. I had never heard of Dara Maclean. I was very happy to find this song of hers  titles Free. It gives wings to my feet when I am running. I think it is a creatively simple video.

5. Turbo Style by Beckah Shae is definitely workout music, if a little frenetic. But sometimes that is what suits me! I also like her song Heartbeat.

6. Another couple of songs that were released a couple years ago, but I hadn’t appropriately used are by Peter Furler, I’m Alive and Faster and Louder, the second song having a bit of fun at the expense of slower songs. You can’t get bogged down listening to these two.

7. One could easily think this next song was meant to be listened to in the last miles of a long run or marathon. It is a nice mix of knowing that sometimes things are hard, but we have a never-ending source of strength that does much more than barely get us through. Good Fight by Unspoken.

8. And just to add something different, here is the theme song from the Bollywood movie Ek Tha Tiger, which we also really enjoyed. It is an action-spy movie, so the music invites motion.

Music is a wonderful gift to us and it is amazing how many new songs there are to discover. I hope this list will bring new joy and energy to your runs and your life.