JOY!

This week I had the joy of . . .

Having everything needed for life and breath every hour of each day. Thank you Lord for your kind and caring provision. ~

Preparing a favorite recipe from a favorite cookbook on a sultry day. Thank you Lord for those who prepare meals with love and creativity and share that in many ways, including through a simple cookbook. ~

Seeing morning and evening follow each other in quiet rhythm of constancy. Thank you Lord for the rhythm of the seasons. ~

Hearing a far off friend's laughter over the phone. Thank you Lord for the joy of a dear friend that distance cannot take away. ~

Noting the glimmer of a tear in my husband's eye when he said, "I love you" across the dinner table. Thank you Lord for a dear and loving husband. ~

My brother Jerry's boys with their Jeep "Festus"

Reading about a couple of nephews who were spending quality time with their Dad learning what it means to grow up as a responsible man. Thank you Lord for my family and the faithful parents that make up each home.

Spending a couple hours playing an organ in a lovely sanctuary across town. Thank you Lord for music and the ability to use it in my career, especially in worship settings.

Listening to the sound of happy neighbor children going for a walk with their mother. Thank you Lord for all mothers and bless them, especially those carrying heavy burdens this day.

Receiving a copyright permission that included a kind note about my skill as a pianist. Thank you Lord for those who take time to share words of encouragement.

Discovering a new writer and savoring his written thoughts on life. Thank you Lord for those who help mold and shape me and help me to grow in love and deed through their words.

Being reminded how vinegar does a really good job in the cleaning department. Thank you Lord for a lovely home and the ability to care for it. ~

Posting my very first video on YouTube. Thank you Lord for the ability to share your good gifts with others, even those I don't know and will never meet this side of heaven.

Refraining from being crabby inspite of the heat -- an accomplishment for me! Thank you Lord for protection and helpful things during hot days.

Being alive in a world that, inspite of so many problems, still bears the imprint of the Creator in generous, riotous measure. Thank you Lord for the Gift of Life!

What is on your list of things that gave you joy this past week?

~ ~ ~

Here's the recipe I mention above, my version of it. It comes from THE WESTMINSTER COOKBOOK, "Michigan Salad" by Elaine Miller. My version is

SUMMER BLACK CHERRY SALAD

Combine:

1 package mixed spring greens
4 green onions, finely sliced
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup roasted almonds (sliced or cut-up)
3/4 cup fresh Dark Sweet Cherries, pitted and quartered

Dressing:

3-4 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1/2 T. prepared mustard
1/2 T. poppyseed
1/4 c. white vinegar or white wine
1/2 c. oil - canola or olive

Mix dressing in a blender or shake until blended in a pint jar. Makes more than you will probably use. The dressing keeps in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Toss the dressing with the salad before serving.

~ ~ ~

HOT WEATHER TIP

Put a couple drinking or dinner glasses (large) in the freezer. Water, milk, lemonade and more are SO refreshing when poured into this icy glass. (Some restaurants do this, which is where I got the idea).  I even had a glass of milk that formed a milk-cube at the bottom of the cup. Tasty!

~ ~ ~

Here's the link to my first YouTube upload.
Enjoy!   

Majestic Trees at the Raleigh Rose Garden

HAPPY LAND

One Star for Me

While cruising through the book of Genesis and the part in Abraham's story where God tells him his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, this quote came to mind:

Sometimes I think of Abraham, 

and how one star he saw had been lit for me.

                                            Rich Mullins, singer/songwriter

Those descendants include all who come to God through faith (see Romans 4.)

What a hope-filled, joyful thought, to look up at the starry night and muse on which is "my star." And not only that, but to see the millions of stars (and imagine the ones we can't even see) and realize this is a picture of all the people who belong to God. Hmmm......the kingdom of heaven is brimming over!

Rich Mullins was tragically killed in an auto accident at the peak of his career at age 41.

Wikipedia has a good summary of his life HERE.

My niece Annie is a fan of Rich Mullins, enjoying his music and finding inspiration in his writing. They have a mutual interest in working with the Navajo children in the southwest US. That mutual interest is a reminder that even a life that seems truncated way too early, can have an influence that glows long beyond it's time on earth. Kind of like seeing the light of a star thousands of light-years away.

This all also reminds me of the importance of writing down/recording one's deepest or best thoughts/music. I wondered the other day if my little blog posts, compositions, or recordings will still be floating around on the internet when I'm long gone from this world, and if they are, 1) would anyone read/listen to them, and 2) would they be worth reading/hearing.

Deep thinking in the midst of morning laundry and a practice session at the piano. Life is good.

~ ~ ~ R E L A T E D   M U S I C   L I N K S ~ ~ ~

CREED by Rich Mullins 
(the video is great; a very short ad at the front end for . . . SPAM!)

LUX AETERNA by Mortin Lauridsen
(Light Eternal)

LIGHT EVERLASTING by Olaf Christiansen
sung by the St. Olaf Choir

ABRAHAM'S LULLABY (Score) - a recent composition from my pen for Men's Chorus and solo cello (see the score link on left side of my website homepage)

Stars and Pig's Wings

Who are the people in your life that have poured water on your dreams? Do you know the simultaneous sting and energetic impetus that brews when your passion and vision meet up with challengers of small mind who have a wary view of your ability to puruse the dream to its completion? John Steinbeck clung to the following Latin saying when a professor told him that he would be an author when pigs flew. I've read that every book he wrote is printed with this insignia somewhere on the opening pages:

 

Ad astra per alia porci

[To the stars on the wings of a pig]

Starry Night Over the Rhone - van Gogh

In beautiful contrast are the people who believe in your dreams and cheer you on in your pursuit of them in many ways.

Parents are often like that. I still remember little things my Mom or Dad said along the way, even into and through my adult years, that fueled my flight as a musician. 



Of the painting here, Vincent van Gogh said, "It does me good to do what’s difficult. That doesn’t stop me having a tremendous need for, shall I say the word — for religion — so I go outside at night to paint the stars."

Lewis Carroll uses a variation of this saying in Alice in Wonderland:

"Thinking again?" the Duchess asked, with another dig of her sharp little chin.
"I've a right to think," said Alice sharply, for she was beginning to feel a little worried.
"Just about as much right," said the Duchess, "as pigs have to fly...."  

                                      Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 9.

While doing some housekeeping in my office today, I came across a note from a friend who said she couldn't wait to see all the things I'll do in the next phase of my career, concluding, "I know you'll be so successful!"  What a contrast to Steinbeck's professor!

To me, "the stars" are the place where I am living a full life doing what the good Lord gifted me to do. For each of us, that will mean different things. I think of how my mom "lived in the stars" in her last months with limited mobility, energy, and stamina. To the end she was making out lists of the things she wanted to do, however simple, each day. I think when she didn't really have the energy to do much of anything she dozed off with a prayer on her lips.


A man I have admired since childhood when my Dad introduced me to him is Nehemiah from Babylon. Around 450 B.C. this remarkable man led the exiled Jewish people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall of the city--no small feat on so many levels! For starters, this guy was only the cupbearer to the King. Not a man with freedom or monetary means. Not to mention how far they would have to travel. And could he convince enough others to go with him? But he had a burning passion. His example of pursuing an impossible dream and his leadership skills are something to check out if you are unfamiliar with this story.

Nehemiah's story is given in the Old Testament book of NEHEMIAH. This section below is particularly fascinating, both for its sarcastic humor and the tenacity and grit Nehemiah showed in the face of such cruel, laughing opposition . . .

From Nehemiah 3:   

When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, ² and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble —burned as they are?”
³ Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!”

⁴ Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.

⁶ So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.


Any Sanballats or Tobiahs in your world critical of you, your plan, your workmanship? Nehemiah rocked on (literally, they were building with stones) through prayer and determination with the help of his friends. Those are good things to remember when one is discouraged in that flight to the stars. And heaven forbid that we become a Sanballat or Tobiah ourselves---easy to do, yes? That's a good reminder for me today--no foxish or feebly snaps at my family, friends, or neighbors.

And I love that last line, "for the people worked with all their heart."

Gotta go now and find me a pig with wings . . .  

 ~ ~ ~

Choose Something Like a Star - setting by Randall Thompson

Poem by Robert Frost (1916)

O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud –
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says "I burn."
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.

The Gift of Words

One of the lovely things that happened while I served as Interim Music Director at Edenton Street in recent months, was making new friends during my time there. Interim work has several challenges, one of which is that you have to walk away when the job is over and leave space for the new leader to make their mark. It was a gift from God to me then, that a young lady in the choir made several gestures of friendship that have blossomed into a friendship that has extended beyond my official role and tenure. Her joyful presence has been a blessing to both my husband and me.

Five O'Clock Tea - Mary Cassat

A gift from her at the close of my interim work, a lovely set of windchimes, was accompanied by a thoughtful card with a Haiku she wrote for me. I was so touched by both the poem, and the fact that she'd taken note of the Haiku project I wrote in memory of Mom when she died the first of this year.

Here's Kat's original set of four Haiku poems to me:

Haiku for You

Lover of Birds
Look there, he's at the window.
Quick, play him a tune.
~ ~ ~
Contagious laughter!
Faith that inspires others
To believe in Him.
~ ~ ~
Indiana Girl
Finds beauty in every place
Her Beauty is real.
~ ~ ~
Blessing to us all --
Worship through music and word
Leaves her lasting mark.

                                                    Katherine Micks, April 2012

If you have followed my blog posts in recent months, you catch the sense in her poem that Kat took time to get to know me and obviously read many of my posts. That is a beautiful gift of friendship, taking time to listen to what the other person is saying. Absorbing what the other person has done, thinks about, feels. It's no surprise to me that Kat is so successful in her career as a Doulah. She has such a large and loving heart!

Can you imagine what it would be like to have no true friends? When I chat with my Dad over the phone, he often tells me about his weekly Tuesday morning coffee ritual at McDonald's with a group of friends. Usually a joke or two is involved, and always some story that makes him laugh as he retells it to me. I love to hear these "good vibe stories" that tell me he is not just a recent widower, but a widower with supportive friends.

Ring me up! (courtesy of Tom Adams)

Words between friends. Live. Phone chats. Hand written cards and notes. Email notes. Facebook wall posts. Txts! Familiar routines between friends. Thoughtful words, caring words, fun words, all kinds of bonding words. These gifts mostly don't cost anything but our time, yet they are priceless.

Words about friends -- that's what this post is, one to celebrate the joy of friendship and the words that surround it. For all the friends I've made over the years, and especially for those who still stay in touch even though miles or other barriers separate us, I can't help but say, Thanks be to God!

A word aptly spoken is like

Apples of gold in settings of silver.

                                                                      Proverbs 25:11

Therefore encourage one another 

and build each other up, 

just as in fact you are doing.

                                                        1 Thessalonians 5:11

He ate and drank the precious Words—
His Spirit grew robust—
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was Dust—                                                                                                           Emily Dickinson

~ ~ ~

She Walks in Beauty

In his beloved poem, "She Walks in Beauty," Lord Byron eloquently describes his friend (wife?). One wonders how her gift of words to him have been fuel for the poem.  

Paul Mealor captures the essence of the poem in his setting, sung here by Tenebrae, with the composer directing.

Those who know Kat would say that last stanza describes her well. I share it here as a thank you to her for her gift of words and friendship.

SHE walks in beauty like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies,

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meets in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which Heaven to gaudy day denies. 

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress

Or softly lightens o'er her face,

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek and o'er that brow

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,--

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent. 

                                                           Lord Byron

New Arrivals

A small and somewhat rickety U-haul truck drove by one day last week. I wondered what stories were packed in with the boxes and weary-looking driver. I wondered if there were new neighbors around the corner.

Dominus custodit advenas

The Lord watches over new arrivals.

Wow. Isn't that a powerful way of putting it? I love the way three pregnant words in the Latin convey so much meaning. This snatch of a phrase is from Psalm 145:9 from the Latin Vulgate and Catholic Public Domain Version of the Holy Bible.

Some other Protestant translations (Psalm 146) render this verse this way in English:

The Lord preserveth the strangers (KJV)


The Lord watches over the alien (NIV84)


The Lord watches over the sojourners. (ESV)

If one is a new arrival, a stranger, an alien, or a sojourner, is there anyone more trustworthy to be watching over them than the Lord of heaven and earth?

Do you remember the last time you were a new arrival, the new kid on the block, the outsider trying to find your place in a new community?  An interstate move last summer brings the contradictory feelings of excitement and apprehension home to me in a fresh way as we settle into a new community and a new bend in the road. 

Konrad Grob, Swiss, 1886 TRAVELERS AT REST

A new arrival comes with a suitcase in hand, perhaps weariness from the journey, with eyes scanning the horizon for signs of welcome and what's next? on their lips. A new arrival might come with enthusiasm and eagerness for new opportunities and experiences, or hope for a better life than they formerly had. 

A stranger or alien might face obstacles of language, unfamiliarities such as cultural customs, or other fears. 

A sojourner might, like Dorothy in the magic land of Oz, just want to go home, or be afraid to put down too deep of roots or make friends. Sometimes new arrivals come with a cocktail of the above feelings making each day a challenge to step out on this new path.

Perhaps the most vivid picture of a new arrival is the newborn baby. So dependent. So wide-eyed to a new and strange world. So eager to be loved and cared for with tenderness and attentiveness.

With what largeness of heart and mind the Lord approaches all of these people. The psalmist didn't flinch in his certainty that the Lord held the new arrival in high esteem and tender view.  And then he goes on to say in the next phrase that the Lord watches over the orphan and the widow. 

Pestalozzi with the orphans in Stans, K. Grob, 1879

 
That triology of the disadvantaged---the stranger, orphan, and widow---receive a lot of attention in the scriptures and mistreatment of them elicits the Lord's great displeasure and his judgment. The entire verse ends with what might be a warning to those who mistreat these people:

The Lord watches over new arrivals. 

He will support the orphan and the widow. 

And he will destroy the ways of sinners.

It's easy to become so busy with our own concerns that we don't take time to notice the new neighbor on our block, or welcome a new coworker from out of state, or show warmth to someone who comes from somewhere else, or . . . well you get the idea.  For all those times we have shown care and welcome -- thanks be to God!

May all reading this who claim the Lord's name, serve as his emissaries of welcome and care for these special people--new arrivals, the aliens, the strangers, the sojourners, the orphans and the widows--in their midst.


~ ~ ~ 


Here is a piano solo from a recent recital I gave in Raleigh  WAYFARING STRANGER




 

Hush Puppies

Today the Hush Puppy shoes I ordered online for my hubby arrived. Nestled in a box with tissue paper watermarked with that irresistible bassett hound logo, his new San Remo III tasseled loafers are a hit.  

A name for a pair of shoes. What will they think of next?  My Larry's Hush Puppies will travel to Synergy Legal and pretend they are having fun pouring over countless legal documents with him from 9 to 5. Shh! little doggies under the desk--be quiet!

An Adorable Pose

Comfort. Quiet. Soft. I suppose the brand name "Hush Puppies" was chosen to conjure up an imagine of "tired dogs" at the end of a long work day and offer hope that this particular shoe will keep your feet happy and uncomplaining all through the day, as comfortable as that relaxed pooch in the photo.

Speaking of hushing the puppies, how does one get a batch of wiggly little puppies to quiet down? Through music of course! If you haven't seen this wildly popular video, do check it out:

"The Puppy Whisperer"

The Lord was on to the hush puppies concept long ago and knows the power of a loving song to quiet a fussy child:

He will take great delight in you,
    he will quiet you with his love,
    he will rejoice over you with singing.”

                                                                                  from Zephaniah 3:17

It's fun how a little old pair of shoes can turn one's thoughts to Higher Things. Hopefully I'll think of that phrase, He will quiet you with his love, every time I see my husband's new Hush Puppies sitting by the front door. And hopefully I'll be intent to hear that quiet loving song often from a distance and realize who is singing for me.

~ ~ ~ 

Here's a delicate and beautifully sung version of "Wiegenlied" Op 49 No 4
by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), more commonly known as
Brahm's Lullaby
 

Here's CREED singing an updated version of the American folksong

Hush Little Baby

The lovely baby photographs of Anne Geddes are paired with the golden voice of Celine Dion singing a lullaby in this music video. There is just so much beauty in the world,
isn't there?

My Precious One

A post about feet would not be complete without this classic. Here is Arleen Auger singing the timeless aria from Handel's MESSIAH

How Beautiful Are the Feet