Blessings by Laura Story

Perhaps the greatest prophetic song of the decade.  (Prophet=heart revealer)

I can't get this song out of my head.  Beyond the lovely piano and her great singing, the lyrics really burrow into my heart and mind.  I think she captures the sadness of our mistaken prayers without coming across as chiding or harping.  It has such a tender longing for us to know God better, enough to appreciate what He is already doing for us and how much more He would do if we could just align our hearts and minds more closely with the best that He wants for us.  Amazing.

     We pray for blessings, we pray for peace,
     comfort for family, protection while we sleep.
     We pray for healing, for prosperity.
     We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering.
     All the while, You hear each spoken need,
     Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things.
     'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
     What if Your healing comes through tears?
     What if a thousand sleepless nights
     are what it takes to know you're near?
     What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

     We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear.
     We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near.
     We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love;
     as if every promise from Your Word is not enough.
     All the while, you hear each desperate plea,
     and long that we'd have faith to believe.
     'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
     What if Your healing comes through tears?
     What if a thousand sleepless nights
     are what it takes to know you're near?
     What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

     When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win;
     we know that pain reminds this heart
     that this is not, this is not our home.
     It's not our home.

     'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
     What if Your healing comes through tears?
     What if a thousand sleepless nights
     are what it takes to know you're near?
     What if my greatest disappointments, or the aching of this life,
     is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?
     And what if trials of this life; the rain the storms, the hardest nights;
     are Your mercies in disguise?

Desert island musicians

Yes, I should be working with my whole brain, but I've been really enjoying Spotify and I came up with the three musicians I would want access to if I were on a desert island.  Or if I got to pick who would accompany me in space.
#1 - Fernando Ortega
#2 - Harry Connick Jr
#3 - Brad Paisley
If there was room for one more I'd probably pick Sara Groves. 

Or Craig Morgan.  It'd be handy to have a hunter along.

Bolero by Maurice Ravel

I was listening to classical radio on the way home from choir and had to sit in the car in the cold parking lot just to hear all of this piece.  I hadn't heard it in years.  (It's too bad it got attached to that silly movie.)  I found a great version, but it is in two pieces, sorry.  Much better than the Andre Rieu versions though, I think.

No more plain Activia, but Mendelssohn instead

I got the sad news that my favorite grocery store will no longer have plain Activia (in the big containers).  I wasn't able to find out if it was because they didn't sell enough or if they stopped making it.  Either way, I am a little heart-broken.  I eat some of it every day in my muesli.  I've been having Dannon plain for two days and it's just not the same (can you see me stomping my feet right now, and pouting a little?)  I'd like to blame my recent poor attitude on that little change and while there may even be some truth in that idea, I refuse to let something like that take the wind out of my sails.  It's just a yogurt, for crying out loud!  But I eat it every day (imagine whining voice here) boo hoo hoo hoo.

On the bright side, I found out today that we will be singing Mendelssohn in choir.  And some Latin, and Softly and Tenderly, which always makes me teary (even though there is no crying in the tenor section!)  We're having a guest conductor while our director/pastor is on sabbatical for six months.  He teaches conducting at a major conservatory and I can hardly wait to see what it's like to work with him!  Judging by the music we've got planned out ahead of us, it's gonna be GOOD.  I only hope I can keep up.

God Bless Us

In just a few hours, I will be in the choir loft, hoping to reach someone with the gospel through our performance.  It will be beautiful.  I just added two posts for two of my favorite pieces that we will do tonight.  We have an exquisite baritone lined up to solo the first verse of The Dream Isaiah Saw.  I will break the unwritten rule of the tenor section by crying (as always!  Makes me think of Tom Hanks' character in A League of Their Own "There's no crying in baseball!"  That's what they get for letting an aging woman sing a man's part.)  You can read about our last performance here from the pastor's point of view.

Meanwhile, my son recently informed me that he isn't really a Christian.  I handled it well.  No bursting into tears, no repercussions.  I can understand - I haven't been a Christian all that long myself.  But now my ardent desire for the Second Coming is tempered by that knowledge.  My son won't go with me tonight.  I'm crying right now a little just thinking about it.  The performance would be just a bunch of pretty songs to him.  With an annoying message in the middle.  While I was looking through the clips on You Tube for Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, there were some maybe better performances there, but they were sung by little kids.  Beautifully, but I struggle to imagine that any of them felt the meaning behind "I'm weary with my former toil"  or "And pleasure dearly I have bought"

This fruit does make my soul to thrive, it keeps my dying faith alive, which makes my soul in haste to be with Jesus Christ the apple tree.

The Dream Isaiah Saw

The Dream Isaiah Saw
Lions and oxen will sleep in the hay,
leopards will join with the lambs as they play,
wolves will be pastured with cows in the glade,
blood will not darken the earth that God made.
Little child whose bed is straw,
take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
life redeemed from fang and claw.

Peace will pervade more than forest and field:
God will transfigure the violence concealed
deep in the heart and in systems of gain,
ripe for the judgment the Lord will ordain.
Little child whose bed is straw,
take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
justice purifying law.

Nature reordered to match God's intent,
nations obeying the call to repent,
all of creation completely restored,
filled with the knowledge and love of the Lord.
Little child whose bed is straw,
take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
knowledge, wisdom, worship, awe.

Thomas Troeger, c. 1994 Oxford University Press

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

Music-Cello

I may have mentioned that I have been learning to play the cello.  I hate to bring it up, since I'm still so dreadful at it, but I wanted to mention some freeware I found that really helps me.  It's called MuseScore and I use it all the time now.  Since I already know how to read music and (so far) am teaching myself, I've been cobbling together information and exercises and whatnot from various places.  Also, I love to play hymns, but the melodies are in treble clef.  MuseScore helps me set up the music to practice all in one place, as well as helping transpose the hymns from treble clef to bass clef and into first-position key signatures.  Now all I need is time. 

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, practice, practice.