Notes of Encouragement

I am in total amazement sometimes that my children, all three of them, have musical talent. Why? Well because music is not one of mine nor Lee's strengths so for all three of our children to be able to read, play and comprehend music is an amazement to me. What really baffles me is that without struggle or hard work applied to it, all the kids can read and understand musical notes. They even get frustrated with me when I assume that they can read each others music. Silly me I didn't know there was a difference between the musical instruments,their tone (this has a lot to do with the type of music), and the music they each read. Don't be mislead, I love music especially classical but reading and playing was not my forte'. What I've realize over the past couple of months is that a spiritural life is similar to music, even more so-similar to musical notes. When we discover that there is more to life than what we are living we are confused, disoriented, and overwhelmed. The Word looks like a jumble of musical notes, things we can't put together or understand. And when we think we have it figured out the sound that we hear is unflowing and, bluntly, a horrendous sound. I don't think that this is true of only those of us who come to the Truth later in life, I think it's true for all of us. At some point in our life, we look at the Word and think "this can't be right". This can't be right! So we decipher and pull it apart trying to figure out; what it is that the notes are suppose to mean? How they're suppose to look?What they're suppose to sound like? I believe now more than ever this is an act of legalism or contracting. As adults, yes adults because as children and even young adults,we take the Truth at it's word, it's not until we are adults that we read the Word and when it doesn't speak to us we get worried, scared, fearful. So we start to look for the missing link, the thing that we will understand in a sea of musical notes that we can't read. This is when we look to make the connection with God a contract, a legal part of our life that will fit into the adult world we live in, the notes begin to form a reasonable line and look to take form, but when they are played the sound is uncomfortable, cumbersome. I can't speak for all adults but I think that at some point in our adult life we start trying to force God's Word and plan to make sense for the life that we want. There is no rhythme, no beat just a mix of ups and downs that we keep putting together because it sounds like the notes should go there. When God said " For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" He wasn't kidding. So why do we try to make His words fit into our life? Simply because we don't want to give up any control over what we want, so we rewrite the song. Fumbling with the notes that keep getting misplaced, struggling with a song that looks right but sounds horrible, fighting for the composer's seat. Sound familiar? I don't know how long it takes for us to realize that we aren't in control, it took 37 years for me to realize it. I guess for each of us the music comes at different times and in different places of life, while we are struggling to make our composition work and in the middle of it falling apart, we get it! I believe it happens all at once, that God just simply says "That's enough! Now listen to me!" Stop moving for just one moment in time, not long just a few moments when you are totally in peace and talking to God. Most of us already do that to some extent just in full motion, on a time frame for our daybut stop moving, settle your mind and picture yourself sitting before Christ and listen. I think you'll hear a song that you weren't expecting. The musical notes that you've been struggling to fit into a concerto all of a sudden just start falling into place. They may seem to be only a small portion or a string of lines and notes at first but as you return to your child like life of believing in what God says is real, the notes start to fall into place and you hear for the first time a sound so pleasing to your spirit and heart that you can't do anything but shout "YES! HA! That's it, that's all there was to it!" And one day you'll wake up and hear songs in your heart that are simply peaceful, you didn't put them there, your mind didn't write them, but those simple, easy notes that looked so hard to understand send songs of delight to your life. Songs of simplicity and understanding of like you've never heard or known. I'm not sure if there is a meaning to the words that are above here, I wasn't planning them to work out this way. It's funny when God decides to move He really moves. I don't know why the musical notes, I just believe that they were placed there by God and He knew I'd understand. Funny how that works, the musical notes that I so desperately wanted to learn as a young teen weren't meant for me but my children. Maybe the same is true for the musical notes that I tried to rewrite for 30+ years to make my life what I wanted, maybe the same is true for you.