Sweet music of July

On this last day of July 2018, I'm listening to melodies of precious memories in my mind.

One involves a beautiful and joyous wedding in which my nephew and his bride stood at the front of a collegiate chapel singing along with all in attendance two great hymns of faith, "How Great Thou Art" and "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee." I don't think I've ever been at a wedding with congregational singing, and I absolutely loved it. The majestic pipe organ in the simple chapel enhanced the sense of building the marriage on a firm foundation of faith in God.

Another melodious memory is the 2018 inductions for the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. The Hall's first "genre-specific" induction class featured contemporary Christian group Point of Grace, gospel singer Smokie Norful and praise and worship songwriter and leader Dennis Jernigan.

The evening included powerful spoken testimonies, then soul-stirring songs by each artist. Although the inductees all were considered to be within the same genre, i.e. Christian music, the musical styles varied richly.

Jernigan's music is profoundly God-focused. The words may seem poetic and the music majestic, but the message of God's love and redemption is front and center.

Norful's message may be just as powerful, but his silky smooth voice sometimes caused me to shift my praise to God for His creation of such a wondrous sound! Norful's energy and enthusiasm lifted my spirit.

Point of Grace, a trio of Denise Jones, Shelley Breen and Leigh Cappillino, delivers its message of God's love and mercy with dynamic harmonies and next-door-neighbor friendliness.

As I've been struggling in recent months to keep writing on my blog, I've tried to get back to my original intent: sharing the sweet music of my life. It's not coming easily. Distractions threaten to drown out the musical memories when I sit down to write. And suddenly it's bedtime, and I have to decide whether to stay up too late again or stop writing before I'm finished. Tonight, I will publish this, knowing I can always come back to finish it later. Writing is important; so is rest. And so is music. I'm trying to find the balance.

Something about singing hymns at a wedding with the bride and groom inspires me to think the balance could come from incorporating music more intentionally into many areas of life.

This is my story, this is my song

Recent adventures in singing and writing have been insightful and gratifying.

It's not about me. It's about the message. I'm not seeking glory for me. I want to glorify God.

That's the only way it works for me.

... Praising my Savior, all the day long.

#familytimeisthebesttime

My  mom and her six grown children spent time together for the second time in less than a month recently.

The older I get, the more precious these times are to me.

We gathered June 23 for an early celebration of my youngest sister's 50th birthday. That gathering was close to the home place, in Cooke County, Texas, with siblings coming from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Davidson farm, the home of my oldest sister, Becky, and her daughter's house, all in Cooke County, are where we are most likely to all show up at the same time. (The Smokehouse restaurant in Lindsay is also a prime site!)

Two weeks later, we all trekked to Bloomington, Ill., for the July 14 wedding of my second-youngest sister's oldest son. We've traveled to Arkansas for a couple of weddings involving nieces in the past, but somehow this trip seemed more of an adventure. I think that's because my brother lives in Arkansas, and my sister's daughter lived there at the time.

When it came to Bloomington, it was a pretty significant journey for all of us. It took a commitment of planning, time and money. And we all made it. And as best I could tell, we all had a great time. I know I did. And I am grateful to God for the safe travels.

A fashionably freeing insight

Wearing a red, white and blue dress with stars and stripes the days ahead of the 4th of July brought some insights that could potentially be freeing for me.

BUY AND WEAR THE CUTE DRESS!

It doesn’t matter how it looks on me. A cute dress is a cute dress!!

I've passed up many an attractive blouse or dress because I thought it looked good on the hanger, but not so good on me. 

 

Something similar happened with a casual dress I bought in May that I thought would be perfect for Independence Day celebrations. When it was time to wear it, I didn't like how it looked on me. So I skipped my first opportunity to wear it. 

Saturday, I pulled it on as I was in a hurry to get to a meeting. And the minute I walked in the door, I was showered with compliments, with more coming after the meeting.

Two days later, I decided to wear it again, and the same response occurred. 

That's when I realized I've been worrying too much about how things make me look.

It's time to trust the look of the creation!

 

 

Ha ha!

Ha ha!

I really wanted to start off July with a blog post. But I ended up taking more than an hour to complete a survey I kept forgetting I needed to do.

I'm glad to get that done.

And now I'm writing in my blog. And I'm gonna post it!

So there!