Playing by Ear

"Reading music" involves the mind.

I can do it.  I did it for years.

And I am so grateful that I have that option and ability.

However:

"Playing by ear", for me, is nonthinking.

It comes from a different place--

from a mysterious awareness of what note comes next--

while trusting that

--yes, even knowing that--

there's just no messing up.

It is flowing from somewhere

that is not my mind

(from spirit or sheer presence in the moment),

where each note, each song

follows the next without me having to even

consult a "knower".

I have played life both ways.
So much of the time, I am reading the "music"
--thinking, figuring, understanding,
discerning, and using my mind to make sense of
what is going on "on the pages of my life".
Thank goodness for the option and ability to do so.

But I think I've also played much of my life
"by ear",
relying on the same reservoir of "next" that provides
the notes I play on the piano without
dependence on
written music scores.

When asked how I "do that"--
play the piano by ear,

I find the question quite interesting.
Where does it come from?

How do you do it? How do you know? 

I can't explain it.

I just know.

 It just happens when I touch the keys.

What if I intentionally, consciously set about to
play the rest of my life
by ear?
(by faith?)
God knows the more I try to find the right music,
play it exactly as written by someone else,
get it right,
and then lose my joy in the process,
I find no peace.

Hmmm...
The Music of Life
is happening right now.
Returning to old songs,
and trying to play them in new times,
when the pages have already turned,
just keeps me from hearing and trusting
the music in my
heart. 

Unbelievable!

For the first time since Woodrow Wilson was president,

the price of a US postage stamp is set to decrease in April.

According to the US Postal Service,

the price of a US-bound first class stamp
will decrease 2 cents — to 47 from 49 cents —

starting April 10.

Can the tax rate be far behind?

Benedictions

Remember:

In the goodness of God

You were born into this world

By the grace of God

You have been kept all the day long,

Even until this hour;

And, by the love of God,

Fully revealed in the face of Jesus,

You are being redeemed.

--The late Rev. Dr. John R. Claypool

“You go nowhere by accident.

Wherever you go, God is sending you.

Wherever you are, God has put you there.

God has a purpose in your being there.

Christ who indwells you has something he wants to do through you—

Where you are.”

Benediction:  Rev. Cliff Stewart

The Journey

If knowing answers to life's question
is absolutely necessary to you,
then forget
the journey.
You will never make it, for this is a journey of
unknowables--
of unanswered questions, 
enigmas,
incomprehensibles
and
most of all
things unfair.

~ Madame Guyon ~

I wonder...

"In order not to be the target, you join the bully.”

I just read this line in a morning news article, and it seems to hold some truth for me  as I try to grasp the political realities of the moment. 

Maybe it holds truth for ME because I observed and experienced it on a very personal level some years ago.

I don't know...I really do not know.

When I rely on the goodness that is MERCY, I do know that I don't have to know.

In the meantime, when I forget to trust MERCY, I get scared that MERCY won't be able to catch up with the bullies who have no awareness of their need for MERCY.

Time will tell.

Loving parent...Momma bird!

Daily Lesson for March 2, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson is from Psalm 81 verse 10:

I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Martin Luther was once asked by one of his students what God was doing before God created the world. "Dreaming up punishments for people who ask those kinds of questions," Luther answered.

We know God in relationship, through God's acts in history and with God's people. We do not think of God as "the Unmoved Mover" as Aristotle did.  God is very moved, very involved, very engaged.

The image we have from today's psalm is that either of a baby bird with his mouth open wide in the nest or an infant child being spoon fed by her mother or father. The Psalmist is saying, "You want to know what God is like?  Think momma bird, or a loving parent."

God is not just up there or out there or back there somewhere. God is involved, reaching down in the mud of the earth to form us in creation, feeding us like baby birds in the nest, delivering us from all manner of evils.  God is a personal God, with His eye on every sparrow and every person and counting every single hair on every head.  In other words, God is involved -- and passionately so.  And that means, when anything happens to even the least of these, God not only notices, but also cares -- and cares enough to act.

So, what was God doing before God made the world?

My answer: nesting.

~Ryon Price, 2nd Thoughts

Split

Daily Lesson for March 1, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 78 verse 15 and 16:

15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

There is a reservoir buried deep within each human soul.  This is not surface water and is therefore not easily accessible. Only the splitting of rocks can get to it. In other words, only pain opens us to the deep discovery of the well within.

It is out of the depths that the source and sustenance of life stirs.  It lies there mostly hidden and unknown and even unheard of until desperation forces us to looking for it. And there it is, buried deep and hidden from plain sight, yet coursing and flowing beneath and so very full of life. Only the pain of being cracked open, split apart, and dug deep into can lead us to this marvelously surprising discovery:

I've got a river of life flowing in -- and now out -- of me.

~Ryon Price, 2nd Thoughts