Piano Lessons

I grew up taking piano lessons for more years that I can count from Mrs. Aeby.  Every Monday after school, my mom would drive Sarah and I into Waterloo for our weekly lessons. I DID NOT like practicing and DID NOT apply myself, which I really regret now.  I love piano music and could listen to it for hours.

I'm a firm believer that all children should take some kind of music lessons.  It teaches them a lot that they will use throughout life.  So each of our girls took lessons in piano, guitar, or flute.  They did not practice so much either.  Today I have great admiration for musicians, because it means that they DID practice and were disciplined  to get to the level they are at today.

Last week, I was cleaning out a cupboard and came across all those old piano books.  They brought back a flood of memories.  Since we were not using our piano very much, several years back, I passed it on to our church.  Yesterday, I went over to the church to play through these old books.  It was such a deja vu to hear those songs again and I could almost see my sister playing some of her recital pieces. Those were the ones with the most memories because  we played them over and over for months, in preparation for the judges.

Before I knew it, while playing yesterday, an hour had passed.  Sure wish my practice time would have passed that quickly as a kid.  It was funny to feel that same tight muscle in my neck that comes from playing a long time.

Now that I had my little "good-bye" moments with my old piano books, I am ready to pass them on. Do any piano teachers  or students  in Chiang Mai need some piano books from the USA?  And for all you music students dealing with the discipline of practicing...my advice is "stick with it".  If not, you may regret it some day!

my bulbs

I enjoy a little gardening every now and then.  Growing things here in the tropics is a whole lot different from  on our farm in the mid-west.  Last year in between my foot surgeries, I decided to plant some bulbs around our cabin.  This was a whole new way of gardening for me.  I remember my mom planting bulbs when I was a kid, but I did not pay much attention to how she did it.

These are my bulbs before they went into the soil. I have thought about those bulbs so much since last fall and wondered  many times, if they will really sprout   It amazes me.... that bulbs are planted into the cold soil before the ground freezes for the winter.  Poor things, it just doesn't make sense to me to put them in the ground before it snows, and................. that over six months later they might come out and bloom and be beautiful, even after just sitting in the dirt all winter.

So now, I'm over here in Thailand and spring is arriving in Iowa and I keep wondering if I did it right and if they will really produce.

It has made me think  about the seeds that God talks about that we plant. In I Corinthians 3, He talks about "one plants the seed, one waters the seed, and God causes the growth".  In my flower garden and in my relationships, my job is to plant and trust Him for the outcome.

When talking to someone who does not believe in Jesus, it can feel discouraging when I do not see an immediate result.  Usually I don't know if something I said produced anything at all, but that does not mean I should not be a witness.  I cannot rely on the results that I see.

Other times, I have heard from someone that I talked to a LONG time ago and I never ever knew that my words meant anything.  It is encouraging to receive an e-mail  or phone call and find out that something that I did or said years ago, had an influence in their life that I had no idea of.

These situations remind me to keep faithful in talking with people and reaching out, even when I see no results. If it seems to me the person is not interested, that is only my perception.  Just like my little bulbs, a flower or fruit just may be produced in God's timing.

I wish the front of our cabin could look like the spring bulbs at the top of this page, but I'm just hoping that only a few have sprouted up to greet me someday when I am back in Iowa.  If not, I guess I'll just have to do some more planting!

worrying

I recently read an article on anxiety that was very timely.  About a week ago, Mike had gotten a phone call each day from someone different about problems in multiple relationships from people that we work with.  Yep- you got it...missionaries are not exempt.  

"The New Testament word for anxiety means "double-minded."  That's the problem with people who have an anxiety habit.  With part of their mind, they are looking to God; but with another part of their mind, they are fretting about what might happen to them", from Bill Bright and Henry Brandt in this article.

I've learned from experience that even though our first reaction may be to worry,  in most every situation, worrying about a thing does more damage to our body, soul, and spirit than the actual thing itself.  Worrying will not accomplish anything, so why not just give it to God and then let go. Trying to make the worries go away - does not work either- but handing them over to God does. Just a little reminder to both me and you! And the best encouragement of all:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."  Matthew 6

no glowing retangular screens

I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my computer. It is my source of communication with so many people and my resource to look up info that I am in need of.  It can also rob me of so much more time than I want it to.  I'm sure you've experienced the rabbit trail.  I get ready to look up or do one thing, that leads me to another site that leads me to another site (lots of intereting stuff out there to read) - and a bit later, I ask myself..."what did I start out to do?"

So today, I took a break all day from it. I quote Dave Dishman from our leadership track this summer , "A Sabbath does not include any glowing rectangular screens."  I know a family who seriously observes the sabbath and no one in the family uses their computers, TVs, or other electronic devices on Sundays. It is not  hard for me to give up the TV, phone, iPod, etc.- but I can't tell you how many times I walked into the office today and then was reminded of my commitment when I saw my laptop closed up and turned off.  

I will admit that it was freeing.  I had time to do other things and enjoyed the extra time, it gave me around my home. I read books and the Bible instead of websites. I think I'll do it more often.

The Balance Beam

Woa, this is convicting to me!  Lord, help me not to hug that balance beam!