Easter, Simplicity, and Building Relationships

I will start by saying that I hope everyone had an Easter that was at least half as wonderful as mine was. My family spent Easter in Texas with some very dear friends who were kind enough to open their home to us. We had some wonderful visiting time with them, along with some great conversation.

For the week prior to Easter, we were with some distant cousins whom we have grown rather close to. It was not a vacation or anything (they are in the midst of moving), but we had a good time nonetheless. Since they had only a very short time to be out of their house and as they are expecting their eighth child, we decided to go spend a week helping out. It was a very enlightening in many ways. For one thing, they live very simple, frugal lives and are none the worse for it. Upon asking most of the 9 people in their household if they wanted to move back to the city, I got a surprising response...a resounding "NO WAY!" Intrigued by this answer, I set forth to find out why that was. How could it be that they could actually prefer living the "hard life"? They milk cows, gather eggs, slaughter pigs, will soon be living with little or no electricity, have no Internet (gasp!), didn't even have a land line phone for a year, have no central air or heat, have 7 children sharing everything, including beds, have to feed a million animals (well, not a million, but it sure seems like it when you're trying to feed them all)....and yet, they wouldn't trade it for anything!

My cousin (actually, she's my 2nd cousin's daughter, but who's counting?) who is 13 stated that one of the reasons that she didn't want to move back to the city was because of the peer influences there. Since they are homeschooled, I was a little surprised by this answer. She said that her neighbors and other friends in the city were mostly horrid, and that the youth at her church were not at all better. This was a sad statement, that the "Christian" youth at church were no different from the world, even a worse influence in many cases than the non-Christians. An interesting note: my friend Matt (with who's family we spent Easter) made a statement in passing that I thought interesting. When my mom mentioned something about not being involved in youth group, Matt said "That's a good thing." "Why?" asked his younger brother. "Because! It's horrible!" And that was the end of the conversation on youth groups. Coming from a 17 year old, that wasn't the response I would have expected. But then again, considering some other conversation we've had with him on the subject of youth in general, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised...we have had the "all the reasons we hate teenagers" (though we are all considered such) discussion on more than one occasion.

Anyway, back to simplicity: Since I have never lived a simple life, it was nice to be involved in one for a week. Actually, I think I could get used to it. It's a lot of work, granted, but we worked together, therefore building relationships. I have observed that it is a true statement that striving together brings people closer. When you go through hardships with people, you get to see who people really are and learn to love them anyway. I got to know my cousin more while out milking the cows than I ever got to know people at church by being on the music team with them every week. I became close the other family we saw by going through very hard times emotionally and spiritually with them at the time of my parents divorce than I have with most people on the planet. Even though we don't see either family very often, we still have a connection and closeness that enables us to, more or less, pick up right where we left off on our previous visit. Interesting.

Well, we've been at home for almost 15 hours now (though most of them were spent sleeping) so we must be going again! We're off to Mississippi to visit more family.

Pax Christi,

~Robin <><

Sing to the Lord, All the Earth!!

"Rejoice in Yahweh, you righteous! Praise is fitting for the upright." Ps 33:1.

Here are some interesting Biblical statistics:
The word "Sing" is used 102 times in the Bible.
"Song" and "sang" combined equals out to 54 times.
We are admonished 19 times to "Sing to the Lord" , ("Love thy Neighbor" was, at most, admonished only 7 times)
specific forms of music mentioned are, Hymns (2), Psalms (6), and Shouts of Joy (7).
Horn, harp, strings, tambourine and dancing, along with others are mentioned repeatedly.
The word "Praise" is used 214 times.
(I happened to be watching a 13 yr old at the time of doing the research for this post. He got quite interested in seeing what other words were in the bible. In case you ever wondered, the word "God" is mentioned 3,892 times, "dog" is mentioned 25 times, the word "His" is said 12,233 times, and last but not least, the name "Linus", from the comic strip Peanuts, is indeed mentioned once).

Anyway, back to music. While reading through the Bible, and looking up the scriptures from the above scriptures, you and I will be forced to come to the same conclusions on the subject of music. Music unto the Lord is not only smiled upon, but according to the Psalms, it is a command.

I began teaching piano lessons yesterday. My main desire is to see these children learn to love music and to use it to glorify God. I'm not big on drills and boring, ridiculous pieces. If I do nothing else as a teacher, I want to teach my students to see music as God sees music. I'm not sure exactly as He see's it, of course, but the Bible gives me a pretty good clue.

Now, the question has arisen many times in my own mind, "What kind of music pleases God?" Before I attempt to answer the above question (put forth by myself), I shall quote my friend, J.S. Bach:
"Music should be none other than for the Glory of God and the refreshment of the soul."
I think that pretty much sums it up. The word "Jesus" doesn't have to be every other word for God to be glorified by it. Some classical music is very soothing and, I believe, glorifying to God. He created music, for crying out loud! He must absolutely love it. On the other hand, many "Christian" songs are purely worldly, even lyrically.
I am very fond of other types of music, to many people's dismay. I like the feel of Country music, some classical vocal pieces, even (dare I say it?) some soft rock and pop songs. No doubt, in all of these fields of music, there is some complete trash, but much of it takes me feel refreshed and reminds me of our Father. My rule for myself (which I sometimes have a hard time enforcing) is to objectively listen to a song or piece of music and say "Lord, does this please you? Would this be playing on your radio?" If not, sadly, I must bid the song farewell.

While thinking about musical standards, I was thinking that I have heard many of the same rationalizations for music as I have for art (though it's much easier for me to rationalize music than art because I like it so much more). "Music is neutral, neither good nor bad." And to a point, this is true. But one way to think of it is this: Snakes, in and of themselves, are neither good nor bad. A rattlesnake or anaconda are no "worse" than a small garden snake. They have no will to sin, therefore they are neutral. But it would be totally foolish to curl up and cuddle with a poisonous snake. Just because the rattlesnake, in and of itself is not bad, having no sin nature, it can still be dangerous.
Music, in and of itself is not bad, having no sin nature, but it can still be dangerous. Granted, there are some very big differences between snakes and music, but an analogy worth considering.

Anyway, that's what I've been thinking about on the subject of music lately.

Saluti!
~Robin

Josh Groban Live in New Orleans!

Last night I went with some friends to see the Josh Groban concert. It was wonderful!
The guy plays piano exquisitely, sings like an absolute angel and plays drums like he was born sitting at them.

I must admit though, that as I sit there amongst the screams of "I love you Josh" and things of the sort, I began to question the wisdom in the apparent idolizing of him. It hardly seems wise, and I began to feel quite a bit of compassion for this 24 year old singer. Josh Groban is a fad in the teenage girl realm right now, there is no doubt about that. But as all fads go out of style, in a couple of years, so will he. The fame that he now sees (and obviously enjoys) will soon be only a memory. I find myself wondering "What will this fame do to him between now and then?" Between the time he was "discovered" and the time someone else bigger and better (dare I say "better looking"?) comes along, how will he change as a person, as a Jew, as a son, as a brother and as a friend? I can't imagine that walking into a huge arena with literally thousands of girls screaming at the top of their lungs how much they love you, how cute you are, etc. could be good for ones self. Fame is a strange thing like that, I suppose.

Anyway, I hope that from this post you have not been led to think that it was not wonderful or that I did not have a good time. I can only say how much about how great it was before I would begin to sound like (heaven forbid!) a teenage girl.
Allow me to reiterate though, his voice sounded as if it had come straight out of heaven. Hearing someone on a recording is one thing, but hearing them live makes all of the difference. It is my prayer that amidst the fame, he will somehow discover that his voice did come from heaven, and that it is a gift to be used for the Giver.

~Robin

Some of my thougths on death

Okay, a disclaimer seems in order here.

I realize that I am taking a risk here in posting two posts about death so close together, but I shall take the risk. Constant thoughts of death is not the usual case for me...

However, today I spent 3 hours playing flute for a wake, 1 hour sitting thorough the funeral mass and burial, then 3 hours at the reception at the home of the family. Needless to say, after 7 hours, I was a bit out of sorts.

After we dropped my sister off at church to practice music for Sunday, my frustrations and strange thoughts all came flowing forth. I was feeling a strange sense of questioning.

The thought that kept coming to my mind was "Why?" Mind you, it was not, "why did such a good man have to die?", I had never even met him (we knew his son). My questions were more in a general sense "Why are we here?" "What is the point? You are born, you live, you die, then you are in eternity. Why this earth?" Not to question God and his sovereign plan, not at all...but I want to understand our real purpose on this earth.

I kept thinking, "God put us on this earth for a reason, and people in general are missing the point of life by a longshot."

I really think that most people, including myself, have a very distorted perspective on life. Why are we here? The only reason I could come up with was "To glorify God."

The posts about simplicity on my friend's blog, along with my own personal Bible reading and thinking, and knowing several people recently who have died or come close to it, has really started to change my perspective on life.

I have had a rather eventful life, and am thankful to God for every season, every fiery trial, and every mountain top. Thorough them all, I have learned many lessons.

For the first 6 years of my life, life on this planet was nothing special, whatever it is that little kids did, I did. No purpose, no mission, just living because I was here (I mean, how much mission do most 5 year olds have, but the point still stands...)

From my 6th through 12th years, my life was merely on survival mode, the "miry waters" years, as the Psalmist would say. Get up, read bible, eat, sleep, keep breathing, keep breathing, keep breathing. Just take it one day at a time, one day at a time... Some purpose, some mission, but mostly just getting through life and trying to rely on God.

Since then, my life has been a mixture of mountain tops and valleys. Relatively "normal" I would say. But I am finding that I am longer satisfied with being an average Joe-Blo Christian. For the last several years, but mostly within the past 2 or so, I have thought "There must be more to life than this. God didn't put me on this planet to be just like everybody else. But what do I do from here? Move to a village in Africa? Something big, I want to impact people!" Then I thought of my grandmother, who passed away less than a year ago. She was very likely the most wonderful, godly woman I have ever known. I found myself asking "What did she do, what was the key to her successful, inspiring life?" The answer came to my mind quickly. She loved her neighbor as herself. She radiated God's love, grace, and hope. She never passed out tracts, she never knocked on peoples doors and said "let me tell you about Jesus", she never told me, in verbal words, the gospel message. But it was told in her life. By her behavior, she shared Christ's love with everyone she met. Not that I should never witness with words, that is not my point, but for to witness with my life...that is much harder!

There is a wonderful quote by St. Francis of Assisi that I absolutely love: "Preach Christ. Use words if necessary." That is my ambition, to, by every word I say (or perhaps more aptly, by every word I refrain from saying), by every action, every response, every....everything!, I would proclaim Christ. That is where the rubber meets the road for me. It's easy to tell someone "You need Jesus, let me tell you the plan of salvation". What is hard is to live my life in such a way that, without even a word, I am witness for Christ. It's so much easier for me to be hypocritical and say "You need Christ in your life", then go home and get irritated at my sister over something minor, slam my cousin because I think she's doing something wrong, gossip about this person or that person, waste time being idle and skip Bible reading. Being a living witness is not easy. I fail more often than I succeed, but I am determined that before my life is over, I will have made a difference. Not (necessarily) because I have gone oversees and converted thousands, not because I have translated the Bible into a language that no one has ever even heard of, but because "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives within me."

My goal is to - every day of my life - die to myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus.

The Lord the Keeper of Isreal

This is one of my very favorite Psalms ( though I must admit to having about 50 "favorites"). At church, we sang a rendition of this in the choir and it really came alive to me.

I WILL lift up my eyes to the mountains
From whence shall my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Isreal
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

Psalm 121