… that the Lord has made …

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them out, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”

     

      ~ Dinah Mulock Craik, A Life for a Life, 1859

 

 Sanctify them by[a] the truth; your word is truth. 

~ John 17:17 

 

THIS is a day the Lord hath made.’–Thus spake
The good religious heart, unstained, unworn,
Watching the golden glory of the morn.–
Since, on each happy day that came to break
Like sunlight o’er this silent life of mine,
Yea, on each beauteous morning I saw shine,
I have remembered these your words, rejoiced
And been glad in it. So, o’er many-voiced
Tumultuous harmonies of tropic seas,
Which chant an everlasting farewell grand
Between ourselves and you and the old land,
Receive this token: many words chance-sown
May oftentimes have taken root and grown,
To bear food fruit perennially, like these.

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

I woke up this morning, remembering a “flash mob” that we did in church when the pastor said “This is the day that the Lord has made.”

And instead of responding with our usual “Let us rejoice and be glad in it,” we sang:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cccJhMVFrLs 

This is the Day That the Lord Has Made

The pastor smiled, looked around the congregation and his eye came to rest upon me.  Yup, busted! But for such a joyful expression on his face.  It was so worth prepping the congregation for it and pretending I had nothing to do with it until he figured it out . It gave him a fresh start to our worship experience.

Today, no matter what you are facing, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice, and be glad in it. Let those words seep into your tired soul, your aches and pains, the crazy folks you will come in contact with, your whole day.  

Picture the first day of your favorite season. Not the first day on the calendar, the first day in that season that feels like that season.  Picture it and allow the fresh air of … the mountains, the shoreline, the forest, the island, the desert … wash over you.  Then, take your next step.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPEny6Hwx2E  (Everybody needs a little gospel!) 

Because of Him,

Linda

The Organ Grinders

Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. ~Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear

 

Make them pure and holy through teaching them your words of truth.

~ John 17:17

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i1k6f9syH4

Organ Grinder Scene

 

     This little 16 second scene from Poor Little Rich Girl is merely an illustration for what I am trying to reach for…a song coming out under duress.

      My mother-in-law went on to glory in July.  We inter her tomorrow with my father-in-law in her home state.  What has transpired between has been nothing short of an emotional meat grinder.  I’ll spare you the fine details, but suffice to say we are wrung out, raw and having a hard time keeping our game face on in the face of this particular grief.

      In researching organ grinders, I came upon this piece of history:  

 

Sometime in the mid-1800s, immigrant organ grinders started showing up in U.S. cities as well. The first mention of a local man-and-monkey team was in the Oct. 8, 1884 Washington Post. The paper, which in those days sometimes sought to entertain readers with mockery of immigrants, related a tale of an Italian organ grinder “and his red-coated monkey” who walked into the old Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Sixth and M streets, not realizing that the inhabitants would be unable to hear his music. Apparently, though, the residents enjoyed the monkey’s antics, because he left “enriched by numerous coppers.”

     In so many cases, it feels as if we are that organ grinder in the Asylum and what little music we make is falling on deaf ears.

All I ask is your prayers for my family this weekend.  Thank you also, for your kind words in this time, and your extravagant love as you see us grasping for the high road.

 

     Keep singing!  Keep living your thanks.

Lord, breathe afresh on all the “organ grinders” out there who sing your truth, and are seemingly unheard.  Bless them, and the ears of those who are listening, and those who cannot.

     Because of Him,

Linda