Sing a Song!

Sing for joy in the LORD, O you righteous ones; 

Praise is becoming to the upright.

Give thanks to the LORD with the Lyre;

Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.

Sing to Him a new song;

Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

For the word of the LORD is upright;

And all His work is done in faithfulness.

Psalm 33:1-4

We are a musical family.  When we celebrate together, it seems natural to break out the instruments and have a sing-along.  Celebrations are a great time to sing and make music together.  Everyone is in a good mood, we've had some good food, maybe some gifts if it's that kind of holiday, and everyone is enjoying being together.

But what about those times that you're alone?  When there's nothing to celebrate?  When you're hungry, or sick, or worried?  When the cares of the world weigh so heavily on your shoulders that you feel like you'll crumble under the pressure?  When all you see ahead of you is more of the same, with no end in sight?  

That's when you sing.  It may be hard to start.  But start anyway.  Sing a hymn, or a worship song, or even something from Sesame Street if that's all you can think of!  Just start singing.  Sing through the tears and the fears and the sadness and the pain.  Start wherever you are.  Sing to the LORD.  Praise Him.  Give Him a sacrifice of praise.  Then, receive the blessing of joy that surpasses understanding. 

The Unknown

Have you ever felt like something was happening just under the surface of life?  It's like those horror movies.  You hear ominous music, and there are two poor little people in the tiny rowboat in the middle of a pitch black lake.  The tension builds, and all of a sudden something huge and dark and scary jumps out of the water and...!  Okay, I admit it. I've never seen what actually happened after that.  I can't stand horror movies, and I end up either covering my eyes or running out of the room before the climax.  Usually both.

Or maybe it's like the week leading up to Christmas when you're a kid.  You're trying really hard to be good, and the adults are all walking around with suspicious-looking expressions on their faces.  When you try to get into a conversation, they tell you not to worry about it, because it has nothing to do with you.  Of course it does!  You know they're talking about your present!  Come on, it's Christmas, isn't it?  You just know something stupendous is going to happen!

Well, that's kind of the feeling I've been having.  Only it's vacillating between the two extremes.  It seems that something is going to happen, and I just have no idea what it might be.  It may be just that I think things have to change.  Maybe nothing will happen, but then I'm afraid I will have a nervous breakdown waiting for the nothing.  It is all so unsettling.

One thing I'm still trying to work on is how to contribute some money here.  The whole online writing thing has been rather less than lucrative, so I don't think that was meant to be.  I've had two possibilities come up in the last few weeks, but I don't really feel at peace about either of them.  Again, it's just a feeling.  Nothing I can put my finger on.  So my inclination is to keep waiting, but then I'm worried I would have missed my opportunity.  Especially the way the economy is, now.  It seems to be a good thing to have any job at all.

Well, there's my angst for the moment!  Thank you, dear readers, for being there!

"Stuff"

 ¹⁹Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

 ²⁰But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

 ²¹For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

 Matthew 6:19-21

These verses have been floating through my mind this week.  We were very fortunate that Hurricane Irene fizzled out before it got to us.  We had a lot of rain, and the electricity was out for a few hours, but that was about it.  We had spent time on Saturday making sure everything was up off the floor in the basement, and thought we had done a pretty good job, but the huge amount of rain combined with the lack of electricity to run the sump pump resulted in about a foot of water down there.  It was mostly gone by Monday, and the floor is relatively dry, now, though the pump is still pumping water out of the pipes around our house four days later.  


When we went downstairs on Monday, we realized that some of the things which got damaged included old school papers, Mikes baseball cards, and photos.  After Mike and I filled up a garbage can and started a burning pile, I spent about eight hours drying out photos, and at times I really wondered what the point of it all was.  I almost gave up and threw them all out a few times, but I was kind of on autopilot by then and couldn't stop.  Besides, there were photos of cute little Rory (from about 2 months to 3 years old), and pictures of people who are no longer with us, like Mike's grandmother.


But all of this got me thinking.  There are so many things we store up.  Especially us - we seem to have an attic, a basement, and a garage full of stuff.  Many of them are "treasures" or memories, some are things we "might need someday."  But what use are they, really?


Another thing I spent quite a bit of time on this week was changing our internet security program.  The one we had was expiring, and I wanted something that was cheaper (i.e. free!), because I wasn't all that pleased with the first one, anyway.  So, I switched to one we had years ago and which got good reviews.  The problem was, I didn't think to uninstall the other one first.  This made the new one rather useless.  I ended up having to uninstall both, and then re-install the one I wanted.  Yes, rather time-consuming.  Then, I spent time looking into generators and back-up sump pumps.  We have a battery-operated back-up, but it is too weak to do much good. 


So, I'm wondering.  Is all the "stuff" we have worth the time it takes to deal with it?  I guess that has to be answered on a thing-by-thing basis, but it gives me a criteria to work with.  Of course, we're dealing with the "stuff" of four people, not just me, so the answer may be different for everyone.  The other thing I'm wondering is how much these earthly treasures are keeping me from storing up treasures in Heaven?  It seems that anything that uses time, money, attention, or space that should be devoted to God's plan is stealing from my heavenly treasure chest, and keeping my heart bound to the earth.  


To all those affected by Hurricane Irene, our hearts and prayers are with you!