Showing posts with label God's Gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's Gifts. Show all posts

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Reflection Upon Being Young

 
When I was quite young, I enjoyed going through one particular drawer in my dad's desk. There were things in there that captured my attention and imagination. I held them and tried to come up with fantastic uses for things that my parents (I'm sure) thought were quite mundane.








 
Truth be told, they were all quite mundane: An old typewrite eraser, a colored straight edge, a neon orange French curve and a brass contraption to hold a roll of stamps.

 





 Perhaps part of the secret of staying young is remembering to see the fantastic in the common, the "wow" in the mundane, and the glory within the plain.  I think that our adult hearts become jaded and so used to the things around us that we become hardened to the wonder of the reality that God blesses us with.  We need to look and appreciate that beauty in the color; we need to savor the texture of a cloth; we need to smile and thank God for the people that He placed us with.  



 
Ultimately it's that.  It's the people and the relations.  Especially the relation with God.  Once we have that—once we understand deeply, that He is both the Giver and the the Gift—once that permeates our heart, percolates through our mind, and exudes from our every action, we will be thankful people, grateful people, humbly appreciative people.  We will see that indeed, every good and perfect gift falls down from heaven above from the Father of Light in whom there is no shadow of turning.  We will then be able to rejoice in the smallest of things because we know that we have the best possible: we have God who said: "I will be your God and you will be My people."



---------------  A Related Quote  ---------------

"Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, 'Do it again'; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it again' to the sun; and every evening, 'Do it again' to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."
— G.K. Chesterton

Take the above Chesterton quote with a grain of salt, but there is something to it for we are told that He never changes and that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, forever!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

God Gave Us Friends



God gave us friends so that we
    could understand a part of Him,
    have a tangible picture of His care,
    have a visible representation of His covenantal Love
                              —His ever-faithfulness

Like stones in His pocket we're placed together
         sharpening,
         smoothing
     and making plain the rough places in each other
                              —and others.
  So that when He takes us out to look at us
     He sees beauty
         because the polished surfaces of our lives
              ƚɔɘlʇɘɿ — reflect
                  and
                     ɹoɹɹıɯ — mirror
                           HIM!

Stones of Fire—    His precious possessions
His prized gems,   radiating His Gentleness,
His brilliant Love—    blinding Holy fire.
In praise of Father's Firstborn,     Fair Prince of Peace,
Dayspring from on high,     angels dance in rainbow-spangled hues,
and God in Love,    with Holy Light—
Wisdom from verity—     into His vestments reaches
and pulls forth a stone,     and places in in the light.
"Rejoice!" they cry;     "My King!" it sings.
Then smiling, God     sets it back again.

Hallelujah! Lord your plans are so wise,
    Grafting us into a body to make us one another
                                  and
                                     one with You.

You give us friends to encourage,
           exhort,
                           rebuke,
                   and
             provoke in love
                    to do good works.

You have also given friends
   So that we might see
A glimpse of You through them
   Though imperfectly.
And in this imperfection
   We can see
The strange fusion
   Of God in humanity.
By His Life
   We're saved from death;
Through His Grace
   We have new Breath.
This Love that keeps us strong
   And makes us friends
Is the same Love of God
   Which holds us till the end!

- D. Benning
25-Apr-1984

Monday, September 21, 2015

Music....

Well, this is rather interesting: I have music that is or is being published.
Seven pieces published by the German publishing company, Kistner und Siegel.
And one piece by Echelon Music.

I have been asked to provide links to sound files so that each of these could be heard in some form.  Remember, I cannot show the musical scores, but I can showcase the musical performances.  This blog entry will also allow me to collect comments and reviews that some of these pieces have received over the past decade or so.

That any of these pieces came into being is truly a gift from God.  I am the unworthy recipient of His grace and any talents that I may have.  And to think that somehow some of this music connects to other people and touches them by listening is really, really humbling!



     Inspiration
Even as I sit here
In deep wonderment I am;
It's something between awe
And ad nauseam!
     Yet not that—but puzzlement.

I am not myself,
But another, yet unknown;
It is something in my finger
That I would seek to disown.
     Yet not that—but imprisonment.

I would that I could control it
(It from my stylus pours);
It must be tamed somehow,
Lest I myself deplore.
     Yet not that—but penitent.

This scourge that from my finger flows
Is sampled here upon this page;
It comes and keeps on coming—
I would to put it in a cage!
     Yet not that—but banishment.

But I reckon that it's here stay,
So I'll let it do its thing;
I'll let it pour out on paper
All its foolish clamorings.
     Yet not that—but accomplishments!

So I'll use this Gift from God
(He by His Grace bestowed it);
I'll nurture it and cherish it
And be a real composer-poet.
     Yet not that—but His instrument!

- D. Benning
02-Dec-1982



Here is the list of published music.  Click on each to go to a separate page describing the piece, complete with reviews and links to a recording of a performance.