Music from the Heart

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Margaret

Nelson has a friend who’s a professional song writer. He lives in the Music Capital of the Nation, Nashville, and works daily at his craft. Jeremy (left) also records his music, performing what he’s written on his skillfully-played guitar. He’s a talented guy, and once in a while the music world shows its appreciation by purchasing one of his tunes.

Today I bought a song, too, but it wasn’t one of Jeremy’s. The price was right (5 cents) and the writer was someone near and dear to me: granddaughter Skylar.

It all started yesterday when I accompanied her to her weekly home school gathering where each child was expected to make a “presentation” in front of the class.

This weekly exercise helps the students gain confidence in public speaking, even though each one lasts only 2 minutes. The topic was “missionaries”, and Skylar’s speech began with a brief report about her Uncle Nelson’s recent teaching effort in Russia’s Siberia.

But she quickly diverted into her song-writing business and said, “I wrote a song for my new baby brother, and I’ll sing it for you now.”

Without so much as a nervous pause, she sang her original song acapella in front of her class and received applause and rave reviews. Although many in her audience have baby siblings at home, none had ever written a song of welcome.

Dear Baby.
I love you.
And I love you more
With my whole heart.

When Skylar returned to her chair, her seat partner Sarah wrapped her arms around her in congratulations, and I glanced at the classroom door, half expecting someone to rush in with a bouquet of roses.

God has gifted both Jeremy and Skylar with a love for words and notes and then added the ability to put them together. The rest of us might feel short-changed if it weren’t for the biblical assurance that all of us have been given talents. God endows each of us with skills and capabilities he expects us to share with others. Sometimes these are lifelong gifts and other times are given just temporarily, for specific short-term use.

When I study my 7 grown children, I can point out special aptitudes in each of them that have been put there by God. This isn’t surprising, since every person is a one-on-one creation, no two exactly alike.

Surely the Lord delights in combining different bents and proficiencies within people (just as he does with physical features), then excitedly waiting to see what we’ll do with them. If we use them just to please ourselves, we’ll miss out on a big blessing, but if we share for another’s benefit, God will be pleased. He may even give us additional talents.

Tonight Skylar approached me with another musical piece, this time about me. It was short but very sweet:

Dear Midgee.
I love you.
And I’m very happy
That you came to Florida.

SOLD!

As for Jeremy? He’d better keep an eye on his competition.

“We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10)

The Flip Side

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Margaret

Back in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s we bought popular music on small black records with big center holes that could only be played on properly equipped hi-fi machines. Because of their rpm speed, they were nicknamed “45’s”, with a Top 40 hit on the A side and a not-so-popular one on the B. We wore out the “good” sides and virtually never played the “bad” ones.

My 3 year old grandson Micah reminds me of those old 45’s. His A side is tender and sweet, causing him to suddenly stop playing and rush over to me (or someone else) to deliver a kiss and a hug. “I love you,” he’ll say in a lilting voice, and I absolutely melt. With his strawberry blond curls and round face, he resembles a cherub straight from heaven.

But Micah has a B side, too. It can pop up without warning and amaze us with its intensity. For example, when asked to get ready for his bath, he might ask for a longer play time. But very quickly the “please can I…” escalates to “I can’t because…” followed by further resistance at increasing volume, till finally he’s having what I call a hissy-fit.

It’s his flip-side, and he has flipped out.

We adults may inwardly feel much like Micah when we’re told what to do, but we don’t let ourselves show it. It can be especially evident in our relationship with God.

Scripture refers to this problem as our old and new natures warring against each other. Paul explained it well in Romans 7 when he described his repeated failure to live a righteous life. “I want to do what’s right, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what’s wrong, but I do.”

We (and Micah) can all relate to this same miserable struggle, because it’s endemic to mankind. Paul says, “I love God’s law with all my heart. But there’s another power within me that’s at war with my mind.” He defines it as sin. He recognizes, as all of us should, that the trouble is not with God but with us. We’re willfully disobedient and need empowerment from someone other than ourselves if we’re to rise above hissy-fits.

Thankfully, Paul defines that help as the Holy Spirit. He says it’s not necessary to bounce back and forth between our A and B sides. “The power of the life-giving Spirit has freed us from the power of sin.” (8:2) Now that’s good news!

And as precious Micah gets to know Jesus better, one day he can live regularly on his A side with only an occasional flip to his B. In the mean time, his grandma Midgee is eating up the hugs and kisses, letting his mommy and daddy deal with his flip side.

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” (1 Peter 1:14-15)

The Meal Train

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Margaret

One of the delights of belonging to a church congregation is that when you have a baby, everybody wants to join the celebration. At Linnea and Adam’s church there’s something called The Meal Train, and people who want to bless a newly-expanded family with a dinner simply sign up online, letting everyone know when they’ll be delivering what food. That way a family is covered for a couple of weeks and doesn’t receive duplicates (though surely they wouldn’t mind).

As The Meal Train rolled into action celebrating our baby Isaac, the benefits have been great. Linnea doesn’t have to cook (or me either), and we’re enjoying creative, delicious dinners along with tasty leftovers. In my role as the out-of-town grandma, I‘ve also experienced another benefit: meeting many of Linnea and Adam’s friends, godly young couples with lively families, serving one another and being blessed in the process.

And isn’t that the way it works when we serve others? Originally we might sign up to take a meal to someone, thinking of it as an added chore to our already long to-do list. We spend much of that day shopping, cooking, and baking, wanting our contribution to be special for the other family. We drive it to their home and hope it helps them in some way. We might even shortchange our own family’s dinner to put together a nicer meal for the others.

And then we step in their door.

As God would have it, the delivery of our gift becomes a gift back to us.

We have the pleasure of oooing and ahhhing over a new baby, touching the soft skin and hearing about the birth. We set our meal on their counter and quickly forget the work of making it, focusing instead on the family that’s undergoing fresh stress with a new baby who is causing temporary overload. And we listen to their wholehearted gratitude over our food, realizing that our meal-prep was nothing compared to the appreciation with which it was received.

We step out the door and feel pretty good.

Linnea mentioned that one friend bringing a meal to us had just had a baby herself, and another was due in 3 weeks. But that’s the beauty of God’s system. We are blessed to bless others, and Linnea has cooked and will cook for them, too. And now, since she’s been blessed, she’s eager to pass it on. It’s a good system.

Tonight we feasted on chicken pot pie, a green salad, toast, and brownies for dessert. A family of 4 delivered it, coming inside for a few minutes to meet Isaac and greet the rest of us. After their young boy had taken a quick peek at Isaac I said, “Do you like babies?”
His answer: “I’m 7 years old, and I’m gonna get a go-cart.” I guess he’s not riding The Meal Train after all.