Some online friends were talking about trying to make sense of the recent school shootings. One of my musically talented friends shared this quote:
“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” ~ Leonard Bernstein
I am no musician, but I love the kernel of that idea. I think God wants us to respond to the sin around us in faith, not in fear, and part of that is embracing His love for us and goodness to us and LIVING more and more abundantly in Him. John 10:10 ~ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Our sixth grade songbook had a little ditty in it I liked (which I suspect had some stealth lesson I missed about scales), called Coffee. The lyrics were: C O F F E E Coffee is no-ot fo-or me It's a drink some people wa-ake u-up with That it makes them nervous i-is no-o myth Slaves to a coffee cup They can't give coffee up. Or maybe it was a lesson on slurs and staccato notes? Whatever. The point here is that I took the lesson to heart, and have never become a coffee drinker. And everywhere I go on the internet, I see references to caffeine being essential for academic success. e.g.:
I have begun to think it must have been a nearly miraculous occurrence for me to complete my education without coffee... some day, my stories to my grandchildren on my knee will start, not, "I walked two miles in the snow to school" but "I made it through college without even a sip of coffee. And that was back before power drinks had even been invented." Oh, the cleverness of me!
Today called for a special art project at our place. I used this lesson plan working with Gustav Klimt's Tree of Life. The handout she included was real helpful for us. Mr Music went to town with the oil pastels and he added roots to his design, which are just amazing:
Miss Dog Lover got the most detailed swirly branches, and lots of little "fruits." I love that she included some apples, you just couldn't help but think about the gardens of Scripture:
I am not sure about my curlicues. I know the others show up better, if I make another tree, I will do it on kraft paper for better contrast. I think it would be fun to paint one and glue on sequins and beads. And maybe a little bird singing cheerily in the garden:
I am currently working on memorizing Philippians. One of the chunks up for review today was this:
for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. ~ Philippians 1:19-26
Today the "full courage" struck me. I tend to think that if I am living by faith, I have no need of courage, I am just able to trust in God at all times without any extra effort... but here is Paul (!) relying on prayers to have courage. That is comforting to someone who has always identified with Piglet:
"It is hard to be brave," said Piglet, sniffling slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." I am so thankful God is So Very Large.
I have watched this a few times and like some of the things he says. I especially love the way he uses his hands to communicate. It also merges well with my favorite C. S. Lewis quote at the moment ~ "The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received." And my favorite line (ouch!) "Multi-tasking is a myth. You ain't doing anything good, just everything awful." So close your other browsers, ask the Holy Spirit to give you ears to hear, and listen.
the best schooldays are when I get to do something I love. The Bananalets and I are mid-poetry unit and today was e. e. cummings day. We didn't do this poem, but it fits my mood and the season:
a wind has blown the rain away by E.E. Cummings
a wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think i too have known autumn too long
(and what have you to say, wind wind wind—did you love somebody and have you the petal of somewhere in your heart pinched from dumb summer? O crazy daddy of death dance cruelly for us and start
the last leaf whirling in the final brain of air!)Let us as we have seen see doom’s integration………a wind has blown the rain
away and the leaves and the sky and the trees stand: the trees stand. The trees, suddenly wait against the moon’s face.
My mind wonders as I wander through life. Last week's storm brought down almost all the fall leaves at once. Almost all. It seems many trees have a few stubborn leaves that cling. And they tend to be the ones clear out at the end of the twigs.
That seems odd to me. It seems they are farthest from getting sap from the tree. It seems they might get blown about more forcefully than the rest of the leaves. It is making me think that maybe it literally is a good thing to be "out on a limb" - to go all out and not play it safe. I hope I am out on a limb for Christ and abiding in Him and know He will never let me go.
