Chasing Rainbows

Once upon a stormy day,

I saw a rainbow bright

I moved to gain a closer view,

But found it quite the fight.

I found with every step I took

The rainbow moved apace 

With spritely strides and playful gait,

It led a merry chase.

At last, I knew not what to do,

This rainbow had me beat.

I sighed, with a dull, defeated air

And took a mossy seat.

'Twas there, amidst the dew and sun

I sat to mourn my grave defeat

And found I had not yet begun 

To see the rainbow's beauty sweet.

I learned that day a wondrous truth

Whilst in that sedentary truce,

For sitting there, I gained a view

Which chasing never could produce.

Precious in His Sight

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints"
Psalm 116:15


I had always assumed that this verse spoke of God's compassion on dying Christians, as He looked upon their final suffering, but recently I realized that the death of a believer is precious for a different reason. The suffering of a dying child would indeed evoke the Father's compassion, but I believe that the preciousness of a saint's death has entirely to do with the joy of being in perfect fellowship with that child, for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:6-8)

For those who have confessed their sins to God and asked for His forgiveness, to die is to be instantaneously translated to the glories of heaven and the presence of the Lord Himself! This is a precious transition for the believer, one to be looked forward to with great anticipation.

When a loved one is absent from us, we may communicate with them, but we still miss them. However much we are in contact with them, we still long to see them in person.

This verse makes me think that it is the same with God. We may communicate with Him in prayer, but He still desires to have us present with Him. Thus, when one of His beloved children passes into glory, it is a precious thing to Him.

What a wonderful thing it is to be counted precious by the God of the universe!

An Unusual Birthday Present...

This morning I awoke to a very strange sight:

Snow on the second day of Spring! What a fantastic birthday present from my Heavenly Father!!

Happy Spring!

Beneath the earthen mounds of fallen leaves
Reduced to loam by winter’s rain and snow
Three sisters slumber, till Spring's call relieves
Their drowsy captivity therebelow.
Brave Snowdrop with great hope emerges first,
Sweetly she bends her most elegant head
To bear the cold retreating winter’s worst
Before rousing her sisters from their bed.

Then Crocus climbs to her perilous post
To cheer and gaze upon the passers by
While humble Violet wakes, by grass engrossed,
To spread her sweetness, half-hidden and shy.

Each sister in her peculiar way
Proclaims the coming of Spring’s first bright day!

A Precious Moment...

"Teacher, I have a cookie in the box for just You!" :)

The Joy of Christmas

On Christmas morn in manger bed

How sweetly lies the Babe!

The Son of God, come down to earth

man's sinful race to save.

And as He grows, that sinless Babe

Becomes a sinless Man

To bear our punishment for sin.

Fulfilling redemption's plan.

Upon a cross, with crown of thorns

Upon His head, He dies.

Then placed within a cold, dark tomb,

How silently He lies!

Yet, from His cold, dark tomb, from death

Behold Him now arise!

He conquered death, and rose in life

To win us for His prize!

May you be blessed this Christmas by the reminder of all Christ gave for you.

Merry Christmas!

Doing What You're Told...

This week I met the sixteen young students with whom I will be spending my schoolyear. I enjoy working with the little ones, but with sixteen (instead of last year's twelve) it has been a challenging week.

As I thought over my day, trying to figure out better ways of working with those who were struggling, a thought came to mind:

If they would just do what I tell them, their time in school would be so much more pleasant for them!

As soon as I thought the above, I realized that my students aren't the only ones who make life harder for themselves by disobeying!

So often I find myself inwardly rebelling against some small thing that I'm supposed to do. For example, I have been described as having "phonaphobia". I do not like calling people.

In orientation, I was reminded that each teacher was supposed to call the parents of thier students sometime during the first two weeks. Immediately, I had to fight against my natural propensity to fuss inwardly. I had reasons other than my "phobia" for not wanting to make the calls, but I knew that I needed to submit to authority and do as I had been told.

This was the day I had that convicting thought. I knew that this had not been about phone calls. God was showing me that I have not conquered my rebellious nature. It is still lurking in the background, waiting to make trouble.

I knew then that I needed to make those calls. It was too late to do so at that point, but I planned to make my calls the next evening.

Long story short, the Lord worked out a different way for me to accomplish the same thing as the phone calls, but only after I submitted to making them.

--Obedience is really better after all! : )

Unspoken

The door is closed, yet on my lips

Are clinging words unspoken yet.

The thought to speak the words was there,

And lips had formed their shape, but e'er

The voice and lips the thought had met

The moment vanished; silent stood the air.

Oh Lord, help my thoughts and words to meld

Inseperably with Thy will.

May, when Thy Spirit gives a thought,

That very instant the deed be wrought.

That when life is over I find not still

Thy words unspoken past the doorway brought.

God's Perfect Plan

In sorting through some boxes of music recently, my mom discovered a song that someone had written for me when I was born. We have been unable to unravel the mystery of who wrote it, but one phrase that was repeated through the song struck me.

"God has a plan for you."

When I was born, my parents decided that I should be an organist. You see, I was born on J.S. Bach's birthday, and had long spindly fingers and restless feet. My parents started my brother and I with piano lessons when I was about 8, and no matter how I complained and pleaded to quit, they would not let me give up. When I was about 13, I switched to a different teacher, who helped me to play well enough that I actually enjoyed playing. After about two years of lessons with her, she suggested that I begin teacher training. Now, I had long thought that I would like to teach, and when my mom came home from meeting with my teacher and told me her suggestion, it was as if a light dawned and I suddenly realized that teaching was what I was supposed to do, even though it had not been part of my plans.

After I had been teaching for several years, God reminded me of one of His plans for me that I had resisted for many years. My parents had gotten the idea "somewhere" that I was going to be a church pianist (playing for church services, choir practices, etc.) The church we were in did not present many opportunities for this, and I was surprised when Daddy started telling people that I was going to be a church pianist. This was also not in my plans, and I protested that I was a teacher, not an accompanist.

Then, God's plan moved my family to our present church, and soon after we settled there I was put on the offertory schedule. From there, I learned how to play for congregational singing, and now am not only playing for congregational on Wednesday nights, but I am also accompanying the teen choir!

Then, two years ago, God once again reminded me of another long-resisted plan. In talking with a friend at church, the subject of the organ came up, and my friend asked if I had ever considered playing the organ. Just as when I realized that God wanted me to teach, it seemed as if a light had dawned, and I suddenly thought that yes, I could do that! We "happened" to have a small organ in our house, and my piano teacher "happened" to have majored in organ at college. The church I was teaching at had a beautiful organ that I was allowed to practice on for hours on end, and soon I played for church for the first time.

Then our church's organ died, and through that God provided a beautiful new Rodgers organ --but our primary organist had moved away, so now I find myself playing the organ every Sunday --just as God had planned before I was even born!

The Day My Daddy Saved My Life...

It was a chilly winter day, and a clear, thick coating of ice covered everything in sight. I was standing on the front porch, looking a little anxiously at the slippery steps. --I was never the type of child who enjoyed dangerous things, unlike my brother, who that moment commanded my attention by whooping delightedly while taking a running start at the giant slide that was our steep driveway. As I watched him shoot down surfer-style towards the street, I could not help but wonder how he could not be afraid of falling.

Daddy came out of the house just then, bearing two trekking poles. He offered one to me, and kept the other for himself, since my brother had loudly proclaimed that he neither wanted nor needed one.

So, off we set down the icy sidewalk. I don't remember now where we were going that day, but there were only a handful of places we liked to walk to when there was snow or ice, and from the little bit I remember, it seems to me that we must have been headed to the harp shop.

We made our way down the glazed sidewalk of the busy street, with cars zooming by in what seemed to me a most reckless fashion. Daddy and I slid a little once or twice, but otherwise our trip to the store was uneventful. On the way home, however, we had to hurry to cross a busy street (trying not to fall over in the process). In that particular part of the city the "wheelchair ramps" for the crosswalks were abnormally steep, and as I stepped onto the curb I lost my footing and fell, sliding rapidly toward the line of traffic zooming past! Thankfully, Daddy had his trekking pole, which he drove into the ice by my hand just in time for me to catch it, saving me from almost certain death. (Or so it seemed to me.)

My brother still can't figure out how I managed to fall...

The Light of the World...

"Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. " Isaiah 60:1

"A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel." Luke 2:32

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6

~

May the glory of the Lord shine round about your heart this Christmas!

Sustained by Almighty God

This schoolyear has been flying by so fast, it hardly seems a week ago that nine shy and nervous four-year-olds walked through the door of my classroom to meet their equally shy and nervous teacher. We have just finished the twelfth week of school, and as I look back on the progress each student has made, I cannot help but rejoice in the One who is able to keep us from falling! (Jude 1:24)

It has been a long and exhausting couple of months, but I have been blessed beyond measure to see how God has strengthened and helped me. He has given me strength when I was weak, He has given me patience when I was on the verge of frustration, He has filled me with joy when my students were crabby, He has given me energy when I had thought I could not make it through the morning. How I am reminded of the verse in 2 Thessalonians that tells us "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."

Early Thirst

(Psalm 63)

The quiet light begins to dawn.

My soul awakes, as it is drawn

By silent thirst, with op'ning eyes

To cast off night and from slumber rise.

~

A soul a-thirst, all consuming need

To open Thy word and upon it feed.

As a droughted land, dry and parched I lay

'Till thus I awoke at break of day.

~

I long, not for water for a thirsty tongue ,

Nor yet for heart-soothing songs to be sung;

No! 'Tis more needful than all for me

To wake, arise, and commune with Thee.

~

Oh, with my thirsty eyes to see

Thy power and glory revealed to me!

--To know your blest presence nearer yet

Than when in Thy house with Thee I met!

~

More than life my Lord, my all!

Thy lovingkindness doth upon me fall.

I shall proclaim how great Thou art

With joyful lips and hungry heart.

~

While life is in me, I'll praise Thy name

And bless Thee, evermore the same

With greatful heart my hands I'll raise

And offer up my inadequate praise.

~

I come, and know that Thou shalt fill

My hungry soul, this morn so still,

As with a feast of extravegant things

Fit to be set before the richest kings!

~

Thus satisfied at last, I raise

My sated heart and lips to praise

The greatness of Thyself, and then

Begin to hunger, and to feed again!

Voiceless Rejoicing

The past 4 days I have been without my voice due to allergies. I naturally tend to complain when such things happen to me, but Ephesians 5:20 says that we ought to give thanks always in all things, so here are a few things I am (silently) giving thanks for.

*My K-4 class is learning to pay close attention to their teacher.
*I actually experienced silence in my classroom during a schoolday!!
*I am less likely to say something I shouldn't
*I have an excuse to sleep more. : )
*I got to enjoy listening to my church's choir sing during the cantata rehersal today.
*Tea, anyone?
*I have an excuse not to make phone calls. : )

Seriously, though. It is strangely blessed to be without my normal speaking voice for a while. I am learning to appreciate silence, and to listen to others.

Thought this was funny...

So there I was, finishing up the last few things at my desk after re-decorating my classroom for the month, when I chanced to look over and see this:

My first inclination was to be annoyed that the banner I had just worked so hard to hang straight was now falling off the wall, but then the irony of it struck me and I had to laugh.

God is so gracious! : )

The Birth of Autumn

'Twas a misty, quiet September morn

When the still and vapour-enshrouded world

Prepared its welcome as Autumn was born,

Wrapped in robes of clouds with dewdrops empearled.

The spiders wove delicate, sticky chains

Linked bough to bough, both to highest and low

And to these garlands clung drops from the rains

While the sun-warmed mist lent an amber glow

Then, as soon as bright Summer said goodbye,

Her son began to celebrate his reign

With a fearsome storm from the cloudy sky

With strong gusting winds and hard driving rain.

And all nature rejoiced to taste the end

Of Summer's long thirst, which the rains did mend.

A Sea-Song

Savior, on the sea of life

Be Thou my Beacon bright

To warn me of the rocks of strife

That lurk just out of sight.

~

Be Thou my Anchor, Lord I pray

That I may stady stand

Trusting in Thee by night, by day

Held firm in Thy steadfast hand.

~

Be Thou my Compass and my Chart

To guide me on my way,

For as Thou dwellest in my heart

Thy word shall be my stay.

~

And when my course is set, dear Lord,

Do Thou my mainsail fill

-For no sailing ship could e'er afford

To sail 'gainst the wind's strong will.

~

Yea, Savior, on the sea of life,

Be Thou my captain, crew,

Yea, every part command and be

my life, the ocean, too!

A Grand Adventure Part 4

Day 4-5 We never actually did succeed in getting enough sleep during our stay in Florida, so even though the sessions were extremely interesting and beneficial, the days did kind of blur together. Some highlights, though, were:

• Learning: In addition to the sessions, we had Ken Ham as a special speaker one night, (At which time Katie bought lots of books, and since she said I could borrow them, we were both happy!) and we also went to the planetarium. It was nice to go to a planetarium show again, especially since the shows on campus were not jam-packed full of evolution! Katie and I both enjoyed the show a lot.
• Eating: The food was very good! I even got to have cheesy grits, eggs, and bacon for breakfast! --My brother was jealous. : ) They also had real southern sweet tea... but more on that later.
• Music: We were able to borrow a practice room and play piano/penny-whistle duets to our hearts' content! We also took the opportunity to score out a song I had written. We had a game we played while we were on campus that had to do with keeping track of what brand and style each piano we saw was. (There were two Yamahas and the rest were Kawai)
• Being Amazed: by God's love for us as we heard each speaker bring up something that we had discussed in our morning and evening quiet times each day!

Day 6 We only had one session on the last day, and the rest of the day was spent rushing around to get all the last-minute details taken care of before our flight home. I had some sweet tea that morning, and again at lunch, which made me very jittery (And wide awake!) on our flights. Both our flights were bumpy, and that combined with the jitters made me rather on edge. The flights took longer, so I was very ready to be home! As we passed the mountain and the textured green of trees began, I was so excited that I was almost jumping up and down in my seat. (But it seemed like everyone else was excited, too, when the captain announced that we had begun the final descent.) It was all Katie and I could do to keep from cheering as the plane landed and we were safely home again!

A Grand Adventure Part 3

Day 3: We got up early that Monday morning, packed our respective bags for our outing, and ate a hurried breakfast in an attempt to arrive at the check-in desk for the seminar as early as possible. Our first session wasn't until late afternoon, so as soon as we were checked in we got into our rental car. Armed for the journey with Katie's GPS and the soundtrack from "Fiddler on the Roof", we headed to the freeway and made our way towards the general direction of the beach. Unfortunately, at a crucial T intersection I happened to have a decisive moment, and advised Katie to turn right. Of course, several blocks later we realized that I should never give directions when I haven't looked at a map.

We got going the right direction again after stopping in the Archaeological Society's parking lot to regain our bearings. Soon after, and almost by accident (Or was it completely by accident? The details escape me at the moment.) we found a visitor's center. The helpful and friendly man behind the desk gave us a map, highlighted the best beaches (and the fort I wanted to visit) and gave us directions. We were happy. : )

We drove along a long bridge, at the beginning of which we saw a sign that said "Check Gas. Long Bridge" and found ourselves in downtown Pensacola Beach. Following the appropriate signs, we found ourselves driving between two eerily white sand dunes, punctuated by dead trees and live sea oats. (I found out they were called sea oats at the fort's bookstore.) We drove for a while in this strange landscape, but still no fort. Katie was a little concerned, because she could see on the map that we were nearly at the tip of the spit of land we were driving on, at which point I had to laugh, because of the way she phrased her comments. ("We must be close, because we're running out of spit.") --Yes, we were tired. ; )

We finally found the fort, which was amazing. We spent hours exploring, and then went to the beach to dip our toes in the balmy water. We also gathered a few shells, which actually made it back intact!! I did miss the icy chill of the Pacific, though! Between the humidity of the air, and the temperature of the water, I almost couldn't feel the difference when we stepped into the water.

The sessions were wonderful and very helpful, and afterwards we went to our rooms, determined to get more sleep than the previous nights. (Which, of course didn't happen.)

And that was day 3...

A Shameless Plug

We interrupt the Florida posts for some breaking news... My mom just put up a blog! : )

Come and see it!
www.thefiberbug.blogspot.com