Yep, I went here last night.  What an amazing place.  What talent thrives between the ornate columns and curtains of this historic building!  Music is powerful.  Humanity has figured that out to the degree our ears and spirits can imagine - and indeed we "use" it to draw emotion, drama, passion and excitement from the hearts of our listening admirers of it.  What an experience it is to hear a full symphony unite in melodic, glorious harmony to create truly wonderful sounds that move and grip us deeply.  To say the least, I wanted to stand and applaud upon every thrilling and broad climatic rise of those sonorous songs so sweet.  What is this ageless, bigger than life thing called music?  It is mesmerizing.  Mysteriously capturing.  Compelling.  Prevailing.  Lingering.  It seizes  the essence of our longings and the very breath of our being.  It can only be God-given.  Supernatural nature.  The heartbeat of God Himself.  Thanks God, for music as it can be the very tool that can only describe You to our very human heart in a satisfying way.  May we choose to use it for the purpose of offering back to You the gift it truly is.  After all....what better way to say thank You, than through the treasured gift called Music?

You may have all this world; give me Jesus."  There's an old spiritual song with these words that carries such a melodic echo through my soul.  It's meaning is deep and multiplied.  Though I don't know its history without researching it, it has sweetly resonated through the ages and continues its almost haunting truth....all else is vanity, except for the tender and powerful love of Jesus.  I look at the world and what it offers and always come home to one final absolute: Eternal hope with the One who gave it all is really what we live and long for - even in this life of colorful distractions, comforts and temporary passions.  Life gives plenty to make our daily experiences more satisfying.  It sells us "things" that help with the very pain that it also offers.  The things that are different are the parts of life that God has created - simple - seasonally faithful - beautiful.  "Consider the lilies" as we read in the New Testament.  These have need of nothing except what God Himself provides in the rain, sunshine and soil.  These things, though they fade, seem to be as eternal as the promises God offers to us if we but choose Him.  The older I become, the more clear these truths become.  This world will fade.  He will not.  The question remains: Will we take the fleeting pleasures of today or will we accept a hope and love that has an ever established foundation?  Give me Jesus. 

This amazing spectacle will soon burst to life.  Wait for it.......

This little fellow seemed a bit puzzled.  Though it is hard to see from the photo there was snow on these daffodils from an early March morning white surprise.  It was beginning to melt when I captured this guy surmising the scene.  It was as if he were asking, "Hey, did I get the wrong month?  I thought sure it was Spring!"  I couldn't help but giggle a little.  How often do I feel the same when the world seems confusing and unpredictable.  There appears to be a lot of that in these very fast-moving and harsh times.  Rules, paperwork, busy-ness, technology, challenge, pressure, stress.  The list is long and simplicity is not something that is often enjoyed.  My mind goes racing to times when picnics, sitting on the front porch and the sounds of babbling creeks and pines in the wind was a much more common experience for me.  It was as anticipated as sunshine in July.  I wondered if the Robin somehow felt the same bewilderment as I often do!  Here's to you, flying friend!  May Spring soon warm your feathers and bring you simple delights!

A thousand points of dazzling light 

On a velvet sky

Dancing diamonds leaping bright

Brilliant and alive

Underneath the dotted dark

I have found delight

Comfort for my aching heart

Beauty to my eyes

The moon defies all gravity

Weightless, in its glow

An endless ball of mystery

This night, oh so close

I raise my face unto the sky

From whence will come my help

Looking to the God of light

Who lifts beyond myself

I see His glory hanging there

Causing breath to pause

So small am I and destitute

Aware still of a cross

That bought me when I had no voice

And saved before I knew

Sin would own me until He

Would offer life anew

And then He more than rescued me

He gave me eyes to see

The wonders of His universe

His love and majesty

Time to put the sun to bed

My heart is tired too

One more day will close its eyes

And hope to rise renewed

Lord, the night belongs to You

Tomorrow may it be

That I might bless You humbly

With a fragrance sweet.