Peace

"In me . . . peace" (John 16:33).

"There is a vast difference between happiness and blessedness. Paul had imprisonments and pains, sacrifice and suffering up to the very limit; but in the midst of it all, he was blessed. All the beatitudes came into his heart and life in the midst of those very conditions.

Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it a second and then saw that it was not his famous and valuable one.

He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered that some one had stolen his and left that old second-hand one in its place. He remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his audience and said:

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul." And he played as he had never played before; and out of that second-hand instrument, the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul.

It is your mission, tested and tried one, to walk out on the stage of this world and reveal to all earth and Heaven that the music is not in conditions, not in the things, not in externals, but the music of life is in your own soul."

If peace be in the heart,
The wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty,
The midnight flash but shows the path of duty,
Each living creature tells some new and joyous story,
The very trees and stones all catch a ray of glory,
If peace be in the heart. --Charles Francis Richardson"

Good Study Music

Fall Season: Moving Forward

God's blood has covered all our past, so it should never dictate the steps of our future.

Cheryl Broderson reminded me that perfection is not a requirement for God's blessings, deliverance, or salvation. It is good to check ourselves, but too much introspection leads to depression. Since I tend to be a perfectionist, this thought was encouraging to hear. Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith said, "It is finished." He has the power to do that in our own lives: to finish things that need to be finished so that we can move forward in His amazing plans.

A Great Aim For Life - C.S. Lewis is a Boss

“The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.”

-Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

Appreciating and Delighting in the Beautiful

The closer we are to God, the more we awaken to and appreciate all His wonders and beauty around us. Solomon had the greatest wisdom of any man who ever lived, and because of it he was a prolific scientist, poet, and architect - experiencing and displaying the marvelous attributes of God through art and discovery. God is creative and beautiful, and we come to know Him more through these things. In the same way, we can also share Him with others through beauty.
If God was cold and boring, He would have just made one kind of tree and said, "here you go, breathe it." Instead, He created a multitude of kinds of plants and flowers, which may seem so fragile and pointless to a practical mind, but give joy and delight to the childlike. He created art, various landscapes, and music - along with all five senses for us to experience Him and declare Him through. God's beauty allows us not to just hear, but to also see, taste, and feel who He is. 

"This is the LORD'S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it."- Psalm 118:24. 

Check out Joy Loewen's awesome blog post on beauty:

http://joyloewen.blogspot.com/2014/05/awakening-to-beautiful.html