Lessons from Acorns

I have been raking leaves.  It is the first of many leaf gathering sessions that will take place in my yard between now and the coming spring.  I have a love-hate relationship with the trees in my yard.  The trees are beautiful and their canopies have really grown and filled out nicely since we moved here 14 years ago.  They provide excellent shade in summer that helps cool our home, but that same shade makes it impossible for grass to grow.  The fall foliage is particularly brilliant this year, the best in many years, but I have allergies to oak.  So my battle with the leaves always turns into a physical battle of sneezing and itchy throat.  Not to mention the fact that the red oaks in our yard hang on to the last of their leaves until the new leaves are ready to come out in spring, so our leaf gathering lasts for months. Yes, it is definitely a love-hate relationship.

This year there is a new twist in the leaf gathering.  Well, it is not actually new, just more noticeable.  It is the acorns.  If you can have a crop of acorns then we have the largest crop of acorns I have ever seen.  If I had a nickel for every acorn on my lawn.... Well, you get the idea. 

While raking the first leaves I was amazed at the number of acorns.  They were plentiful and they were huge.  We have always had acorns, but not since we moved here have we had this many.  They are literally piles of them on the ground.  The other day, the wind was blowing and they were falling and hitting my son in the head as he played soccer in the driveway.  The complicated relationship continues.

While I continued to pick up leaves and let the acorns sift to the ground, I began to wonder about their abundance.  Why were there so many this year?  Then it hit me.  Well actually, I think God pointed it out to me.  The acorns are plentiful for the same reason the foliage is so colorful this year.  The drought ended.  For the first summer in many summers, we had plenty of rain.  Sometimes a little more than we thought we wanted, but we had rain.  The oak trees are fruitful because they have been well-watered. 

And there is the truth.  The trees are fruitful because they are well-watered.  That's the phrase the Holy Spirit drilled into my spirit.  “Keep yourself well-watered, Rhonda, and you will continue to bear a bountiful harvest.  If you stay in a spiritual drought condition your fruit is skimpy, shriveled, and sparse.”  Wow, I love it when God talks to me in easy to understand, direct applications.  I could not possibly misunderstand what He was saying to me. 

There are so many examples from nature that apply to our spiritual walk with Christ.  This is why the apostle Paul could, without pause, write in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”  (NIV)   I am uniquely thankful that God is willing to teach me and show me things about myself and about His wonderful, eternal nature in a mundane activity like raking leaves.

So look for the lessons.  They are out there.  Some of the most meaningful lessons are in the everyday, work-a-day, I've-done-this-a-million-times kind of things.  God shows up, and all of a sudden an acorn becomes a mighty oak of a life lesson.  Don't miss them.  Your next teachable moment with God may be while washing dishes, or filling your car with fuel, or purchasing groceries, or tending a sick child, or looking into the eyes of a student in your choir, or walking along a well-known path.  Be ready.  Be filled with the Word, so that when the lesson comes, you will know exactly how to apply it.  Stay well-watered.

How will you stay soggy and fruitful?

(This article was published in Share the Music, a newsletter published by Brentwood-Benson and distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation.  It is used here by permission.)

Quebecish

What languages are spoken in Quebec?  That was the question on a seventh grade geography test that my friend, Jeff, happened to be grading at my house the other day during a football game.  Unfortunately, one of his students answered this question with “English and Quebecish.” 

This answer sparked peals of laughter from the sports fans gathered in my living room.  While I was chuckling at the wonder that is the average middler schooler, I found myself thinking  “Everyone knows the answer is English and French.  I've always known that.”  But then I realized, that I couldn't have “always” known this.  I had to learn this.

Somewhere, at sometime, in a classroom far, far away, a teacher presented that piece of information in a meaningful way, and I remembered it.  Perhaps more accurately, the information was presented over and over in a variety of ways, and I learned it without even knowing that it had been learned.

That is a great thing about working with children and the truth of Scripture.  We get to present truths in a variety of meaningful ways.  We get to use music, games, stories, maps, crafts, movement, and play to teach students the truths that will change their lives.  We get to subtly, yet purposefully, weave truth into the lives of the children in our classes.

Sometimes when we present truth we see the spiritual lights come on.  We are there when the student really grabs hold of a truth and begins to live it out.  Those times are to be prayed for, planned for, sought out and treasured.

Many times, however, in our week to week classes we are laying a foundation that another will build on.  We see spiritual sparks that will later be fanned into flames.  We find ourselves living out John 4:37 “One sows and another reaps.” 

This is when we have to dig deep in our preparations and remind ourselves often of the joy of first discoveries.  We have to handle the truth with joy and awe as if we, ourselves, are learning it for the first time. 

The challenging part of this is that your lesson preparation can't be thrown together at the last minute.  You can't fake joy and awe.  I've written this before, but it bears repeating as we begin a new year together—give the Holy Spirit time to teach you before you try to lead your choir on a spiritual journey.  Give yourself time to remember when you first learned something.  It will help you be a better disciple.  It will help you be a much better discipler.

Finding joy and awe in English and Quebecish,

Rhonda

(This article originally appeared in Share the Music, a newsletter for Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation.  It is used here with permission.)

A Son Seeker

The other morning I snuggled into the corner of the couch and grabbed my One Year Bible.  It was early.  The house was quiet, and I had some catching up to do.  An unexpected trip and poor planning on my part found me on he next to the last day of the month with several days of reading to do to be back on track.  No worries.  I had a fresh cup of coffee, a clear head, clean glasses and a determined spirit to mark this off of my “to do” list for the day.

As I sat reading, I soon found myself in the glow of the rising sun.  The corner of the couch I had chosen is in the perfect position to get the full blast of morning sun.  In fact, if you are there at the right moment of the day, you will find yourself in the blinding glare of the morning sun.  The light is so intense you can feel it coming, creeping slowly up until it reaches the top panes and then, you have a choice,  you can move and avoid the glare or you can close your eyes for a few moments and soak it in.

That is what I did on that cold winter morning.  I chose to soak it in.  I closed my eyes, took a break from my Bible reading and let the sun warm my face and make the back of my eyelids glow.  It felt so good—physically and spiritually. I wanted to stay there in that light.  I wanted to sit with the Word in my hand and just bask in the sun.  I wanted it to last for hours, not just minutes.

But just like the sun faithfully does every day, it moved on up in the sky (or at least that is my perception of what happens) and the place where I sat became chilled and dim. I sat there for a few moments longer with my head back and my eyes closed wishing I could have made it last just a little longer.

Despite my wishing, I could not make the sun stay where I was.  If I wanted to remain in its forceful, powerful path, I had to move. I was completely comfortable on my couch.  But if I wanted the sun on my face, I was going to have to move to a new spot and keep moving.

I wanted to be stay on the couch where I was settled and cozy, but the sunshine was beckoning, “Come play over here! Come work here; serve here! Come glow here!  Come rest here, now!”  The light was on the move.

So there on that cold winter morning, the sunshine taught me a lesson.  Nature—God's eternal design—taught me a spiritual truth (Romans 1:20).  Stay in the light, walk in the light, live in the light.  Not for just a moment, but continually. 

The sunshine was making 1 John 1:7 come alive to me in a new and fresh way, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (NIV)  The  morning light was directing my thoughts to the Light of the world. (John 8:12)

Where is the Light beckoning you?  Have you felt the warmth on your face lately?  Have you sought out its intense beams?  Have the backs of your spiritual eyelids glowed in the fullness of His light?  Oh, I hope so. 

See you in the Son!

(This article was originally published in Share the Music, a newsletter for Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation.  It is used here with permission.)

My Bible, My Friend

Here is my facebook status update from November 28, 2011:

“On June 3, 1983 Michael Frazier gave me a Bible. It came so soon in our dating that I actually spelled his name wrong on the "Presented by" line. (Apparently yearbooks are not excellent sources for checking the spelling of names.) I have recorded the deaths of grandparents and my mom's passing in it. Today, I recorded the marriage of Daniel Frazier to Bethany Gray. It is worn and covered with notes of all kinds. I am thankful for my Bible, and the way it feels in my hands, and the way it feeds my soul and shapes my life.”

I love my Bible.  Except for my New American Standard Inductive Study Bible—which will always feel like a college textbook to me—and the Bible I carried in my wedding, all the Bibles I have personally owned have had red covers.  Probably not significant, but it is true.  But this Bible, my red 1983 NIV, with its frayed spine and peeling cover, is my favorite.  It is marked with pen, pencil, colored pencil and maybe even crayon.  It is stained with tears and coffee.  There are sermon dates and minister’s names scribbled in the margins. Scattered about over the words are symbols and arrows and exclamation points. A few pages are ragged at the edges, and there are sections that look barely worn (sorry, minor prophets).

Often when I think about certain scriptures, I can visualize where they are in this Bible, where the verse falls on the page.  I’m so familiar with this particular Bible that I really don’t want to choose another when it comes time to study or read.   This Bible is my friend. 

Psalm 19:7-8 says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.  The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”

I need all of these things.  I require reviving.  I need wisdom.  I desire joy.  I need my darkened eyes to receive the radiant light that His Word gives.  Don’t you need these things as well? What about your family and neighbors and the students in your choir?  God’s Word is there to bring these things and so much more.

Would you be willing to take a challenge?  Would you be willing to try to instill as much love for God’s Word in your students as you do love of music?  Would you be willing to help them encounter God’s Word in ways that are so meaningful to them that they develop a life-long friendship with their Bible, too?

Encountering God’s Word is life-giving.  It is not boring or stale or just something for grown-ups to do.  What will these “friendship encounters” with God’s Word look like in your classroom?  How can you marry the love and beauty and excitement of music with a love and passion for God’s Word? 

“The ordinances of the Lord…are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb” (Psalm 19:9-10).  Who doesn’t like gold and honey?  Make rich, sweet deposits into the lives of your students—through music and the Word.  It is a powerful combination.

Feasting on golden honey,

Rhonda

(This article originally appeared in Share the Music, a newsletter for Brentwood-Benson Music Publisihing, distributed by the Hal Leonard Corporation.  It was used here with permission.)

Music Memories

What are your favorite musical memories?  There are probably too many to count, but think about it for a bit.  What thoughts, feelings, or pictures from your past come rushing forward when you begin to reflect on the impact of music in your life?  

I grew up in a church tradition that regularly married the old and the new in music.  Every pew was outfitted with The Church Hymnal—loving referred to as the “Red-back Hymnal” even though in later years it could be purchased in a new-fangled green.  In fact, when I was little I thought that was the name of the book.  In addition to this hymnal, every year we got new paperback songbooks for the choir to use.  The songbooks represented a collection of new songs recently written and were filled with verses about salvation, God’s goodness, heaven and Christ’s return.  Alto and tenor leads were prevalent as shaped notes danced across the lines and spaces.

Back then, our choir was an “anyone who wants to sing come on up” group.  There were no formal choir rehearsals and song leaders chose the next song sometimes on the fly.  Children and adults were welcomed to head up to the choir loft, grab a songbook and belt out whatever you could bring.   The song leader never quite knew what cacophony of parts he would hear from the loft until we got started, but it usually worked its way out as singers shifted parts to accommodate the harmony or melody as needed.    It was at the same time chaotic and beautiful.  

One of my oldest musical memories is of my standing on the front row of the choir, holding my songbook in my little hands and realizing that the lyrics went in an order.   It was like a miracle to me when I realized that the first line of each stanza was sung first, then the second line, then the third with the chorus coming between them.  It seems funny now, but it was as if I had discovered some secret of the universe—a great mystery had been opened up to me.  What may seem strange to many is that I was allowed to go up and sing in the choir before I could read!

While I appreciate the heritage and tradition that I grew up in, I’m not advocating that you start an “everybody come on up” choir.  My challenge to you is for you to continually offer the children in your choir and congregation opportunities to build these kinds of lifelong memories with music.  Create an environment that allows them to encounter music in a life-changing way.  Give them opportunities to serve.  Give them opportunities to lead.  Make space for them to worship, not just in front of you, up alongside you.   

Researchers say that “smells” are the strongest of the memory triggers.  I don’t have any scientific data, but my own experiences tell me that music has to be pretty high on the list as well.  I’m sure that no one in my little church would have guessed that there was a moment on Sunday night when music and the world of reading collided, but it did.  What will the children in your choir remember 10, 20, 30, or 40 years from now?  

Vicious Cycles of Crazy

I know better.  You probably do, too.  We’re supposed to set boundaries.  We’re supposed to know when to say “yes” and when to say “no.”  We should be confident enough and self-assured enough to not get caught up in pleasing people.  Loving people—Yes!  Pleasing people—not necessarily!  Sometimes we confuse the two.  

Yet so many times, I find myself right back in a cycle of piling more and more stuff on my plate—more stuff than I have been given the grace to handle.  For me that is the key to knowing when I’ve taken on too much—there is no grace.  None extended to me, and especially none for me to extend to others.  I’m short-tempered, sleep deprived and hard to get along with—not very gracious.

Sometimes I live as if the concept of being “in over my head” is scriptural.  I function as if the only way to allow God to move in my life is for Him to constantly come to my rescue.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love being rescued.  I love when a deadline is looming, and I cry out in desperation for inspiration and help.  I love it when it comes.  And God is faithful.  He hears the cries of His people—even me.  

Often, I want to think that I would not have been so desperate if God had inspired me earlier, but  if I’m completely honest, earlier I was probably so busy with stuff I was not supposed to be doing that had inspiration dawned, I most likely would have used it on the wrong project, or I wouldn't have recognized it as inspiration at all!

When I get into these vicious cycles of crazy, I try to apply 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”  But then there’s the problem of the truth of this passage.  Grace is sufficient for my weakness.  While I’m piling on, saying yes to everything, and pretending to be a Jack of All Trades (and clearly the Master of None), I’m touting my strengths (real or imagined), I am moving in the flesh.  And my flesh, by its very nature, cannot give birth to things of the Spirit.

So as I’m travelling around this mountain pass—AGAIN—I’m asking the Holy Spirit to continue to be my teacher and helper.  I have learned the power of the truth of 2 Corinthians 10:5 “… and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  Is it possible that I need to also apply that truth to appointments, opportunities, projects and such?  What if before I said “yes” to something, I actually took it to Jesus and made the very idea of it obedient to His plan for me, rather than simply seeing a tiny opening in my calendar that I can fill.  What a concept?  How many more truly good things could I say “yes” to, if I were simply willing to say “no” when “no” is what Jesus wanted me to say?

What do you need to take to Jesus?  What do you need to say “yes” to?  I’m praying that the next season of ministry for you will be filled with grace beyond measure and absolutely no crazy from self-imposed chaos!

(This article was written in September 2012 and published in Share the Music a newsletter from Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing for folks  involved in children's music.  It is shared her with permission.)