His Grace Will Tune Us Up

Story of the Day for Monday January 5, 2015

His Grace Will Tune Us Up

God’s grace teaches us to renounce godlessness and worldly desires, and to live wisely, justly, and godly in this present time.

Titus 2:11-12

I like New Year’s Day, for the obvious reason that there’s a lot of football games on TV. But, in a deeper sense, a new year is refreshing because it’s the closest that Time comes to picturing the grace of God.

When we begin a new year, the slate is wiped clean.

And what happens when we put the past behind us? Inevitably, we look forward. We’re optimistic, and make resolutions to lose weight or to clean the broom closet. When we don’t have to lug last year into the future, we feel light and cheery. We don’t want to be slugs (for more than a day). We want to live.

Some think that, when Jesus forgives your sins, it makes you want to sin more. If you assure a criminal, for example, that, if he robs a bank, he will be immune from prosecution, wouldn’t that motivate him to rob more banks?

It would seem so. But let me ask you this: does the arrival of a New Year make you want to fail in your new resolution to lose fifteen pounds by summer? No, whenever we put the past behind us, we’re fired up to do better.

When I was an adolescent, we visited my grandma in Upper Michigan. I sat down at the piano, and, not knowing how to play, sounded awful.

Then my sister, Lois, who was a child prodigy at piano, sat down to play. Not to brag or anything, but she has gone on to play piano for the Detroit Metropolitan Opera. A vocalist demanded that she be flown to London as her accompanist. She has even performed at Carnegie Hall.

From memory, my sister played an intricate piano piece. And you know what? It sounded awful too! If Beethoven played this piano it would have hurt your ears, because grandma’s piano hadn’t been tuned since sometime before the French Revolution.

In the end, the New Year can evoke God’s grace, but cannot replace it. If we resolve to play a better song with our lives this coming year, but our piano is still out of tune, then we’ll produce nothing of beauty.

That’s why we need to confide in the Lord and to confess that our life is out of tune. His grace will tune us up.

I can hardly wait to start hammering away at “Chopsticks.”

(copyright 2012 by climbinghigher.org and by Marty Kaarre) (photo by Tyler Capa)

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Total Abandonment to Your Calling

Story of the Day for Thursday October 30, 2014

Total Abandonment to Your Calling

Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else.”

Exodus 4:13

Have you ever wanted to do something, but were afraid to try?

There’s a lot to be said for not trying. Think about it: if you try to do something new, you’ll inevitably begin wobbly and will always be able to point to those who can do it better than you. When we try, and fail, it produces embarrassment, frustration, discouragement, and criticism from others.

If, however, you simply refuse to try, you will be spared these humiliations of failure. Moses put up an admirable protest when the Lord called him to be the spokesman for his people. He stuttered. He was not a good speaker.

The Lord didn’t ask Moses to be good; he just told him to do it.

Bill Staines is one of the most popular folksingers of our day. Both his resonant singing and accomplished guitar playing are easy to listen to.

Yet, Staines didn’t start his musical career because he was talented. He was inspired, as a child, by a framed embroidery that his mother hung above the piano. It said:

I CAN’T PLAY

AND I CAN’T SING

BUT I CAN TRY LIKE ANYTHING

Florence Foster Jenkins loved to sing. Much to the dismay of her parents and husband, she decided to perform publicly. Her voice sounded like she was killing a cat, and the notes soared in a futile search for the correct pitch. Undaunted by any sense of rhythm, she never let the music’s tempo boss her around. Her accompanist, Mr. Cosmé McMoon, would constantly adjust the pace of the music to her unique sense of timing.

In The Book of Heroic Failures, Stephen Pile summed it up by saying, “No one, before or since, has succeeded in liberating themselves quite so completely from the shackles of musical notation.”

Jenkins’ popularity began to soar. It wasn’t simply that she was so spectacularly awful; many people know how to sing poorly. Instead, it was her total abandonment to her calling. She loved to sing. Robert Bagar in the New York World-Telegram captured her appeal: “She was exceedingly happy in her work. It is a pity so few artists are. And the happiness was communicated as if by magic to her hearers.”

Florence Foster Jenkins culminated her career on October 25, 1944, when she screeched and warbled before a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall.

Although Florence was fully aware of her critics, she simply didn’t care. “People may say I can’t sing,” she observed, “but no one can ever say I didn’t sing.”

Michael Jordan nailed it: “If I try something and I don’t succeed, it doesn’t mean I failed. It means I tried.”

(text copyright 2012 by climbinghigher.org and by Marty Kaarre)

(image:http://images.nymag.com/nymetro/arts/music/classical/classical051121_3_175.jpg)

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What Music Can You Play on a Broken Stradivarius?

Story of the Day for Monday February 24, 2014 

 

What Music Can You Play on a Broken Stradivarius? 

 

                And the God of all grace . . . will restore, establish, strengthen, and set you on a firm foundation. 

1 Peter 5:10     

 

Peter Cropper, from Sheffield, England, is a distinguished violinist. He is so good, he was asked to perform at the prestigious Kuhmo Music Festival in Finland.  

The Royal Academy of Music in London honored him by loaning him the use of a priceless Stradivarius violin. The violin, made by Antonio Stradivari was 258 years old and was made in his “Golden period.” It was considered one of the most valuable violins in the world.  

 

On the night of the festival, Mr. Cropper hurried on stage and tripped on an extension cord. He fell on the Stradivarius and broke the neck completely off.  

Peter was inconsolable.  

 

Charles Beare offered to repair the violin. The RoyalAcademy thanked Beare for his gracious offer, but assured him a broken Strad could never be repaired. But Cropper urged the Academy to see what Beare could do, and they finally relented and handed the violin over to Beare. 

Beare spent endless hours trying to repair the broken neck and a cracked bass bar with animal glue. After a month he presented the violin to the Academy. With Cropper in attendance they looked in astonishment – they could not find the slightest sign that the violin had ever been damaged.  

Not only did the restored violin look impeccable, but Cropper said, “. . . the violin is now in better shape than ever, producing a much more resonant tone.” That next week he performed with the Lindsay Quartet in Carnegie Hall, playing the restored Stradivarius.  

 

We all fail in life.  

So, what does God think about us when we botch things up? We know that He cares deeply about behaving the right way, so it stands to reason He is furious when we do wrong.  

Yes, God does care deeply about living rightly, because living wrongly creates so much pain to ourselves and others. But He’s the God of grace.  

Jesus never walked the streets with a clipboard –sifting out the rejects and patting the righteous on the head. If Jesus only approved of those who never failed in life, there would be no heads to pat.  

 

Never write the chapter of your failures as the last chapter of your story. The Lord, as a master craftsman, always offers to take the broken pieces of your heart, and restore you.  

And make you stronger than before.  

(copyright 2012 by climbinghigher.org and by Marty Kaarre)

(image: http://chamberstudio.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Peter-Cropper-BW3.jpg)

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His Grace Will Tune Us Up

Story of the Day for Wednesday January 1, 2014 

 

His Grace Will Tune Us Up 

 

 

                 God’s grace teaches us to renounce godlessness and worldly desires, and to live wisely, justly, and godly in this present time.  

Titus 2:11-12      

I like New Year’s Day, for the obvious reason that there’s a lot of football games on TV. But, in a deeper sense, a new year is refreshing because it’s the closest that Time comes to picturing the grace of God.  

 

When we begin a new year, the slate is wiped clean.   

And what happens when we put the past behind us? Inevitably, we look forward. We’re optimistic, and make resolutions to lose weight or to clean the broom closet. When we don’t have to lug last year into the future, we feel light and cheery. We don’t want to be slugs (for more than a day). We want to live.   

 

 Some think that, when Jesus forgives your sins, it makes you want to sin more. If you assure a criminal, for example, that, if he robs a bank, he will be immune from prosecution, wouldn’t that motivate him to rob more banks?   

It would seem so. But let me ask you this: does the arrival of a New Year make you want to fail in your new resolution to lose fifteen pounds by summer? No, whenever we put the past behind us, we’re fired up to do better.  

 

When I was an adolescent, we visited my grandma in Upper Michigan. I sat down at the piano, and, not knowing how to play, sounded awful. 

Then my sister, Lois, whowas a child prodigy at piano, sat down to play. Not to brag or anything, but she has gone on to play piano for the Detroit Metropolitan Opera. A vocalist demanded that she be flown to Londonas her accompanist. She has even performed at Carnegie Hall.  

From memory, my sister played an intricate piano piece. And you know what? It sounded awful too!  If Beethoven played this piano it would have hurt your ears, because grandma’s piano hadn’t been tuned since sometime before the French Revolution.   

 

In the end, the New Year can evoke God’s grace, but cannot replace it. If we resolve to play a better song with our lives this coming year, but our piano is still out of tune, then we’ll produce nothing of beauty.  

That’s why we need to confide in the Lord and to confess that our life is out of tune. His grace will tune us up.    

I can hardly wait to start hammering away at “Chopsticks.”  

(copyright 2012 by climbinghigher.org and by Marty Kaarre)

(image: http://www.cepolina.com/freephoto/f/other.objects.art/old.piano.jpg)

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Lots and Lots of Practice

Story of the Day for Tuesday October 16, 2012 

Lots and Lots of Practice

                 I want you to insist on these things so that those who trust in God will be intent on devoting themselves to good works.  

                                                                                         Titus 3:8

I once watched the Rose Bowl with a foreign exchange student – who had never seen an American football game before. He looked confused, and, after a while asked what was happening. Trying to describe what he was seeing, he said, “They line up against each other, and then they all jump into a pile, and then they line up and do it again.” I was seeing pulling guards and counters and play-actions.

Do you think American football fans just have a genetic gift for understanding football? Yeah, right. It has nothing to do with talent.

Since the early 1990s, scientists have learned how to scan our brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to see how various stimuli activate different parts of our brain.

One day, a scientist said, “Hey, I wonder if we can discover whether musicians are naturally gifted?” So, they played music for both musicians and non-musicians. Sure enough, when they looked at the MRIs, the musician’s brains were lighting up all over the place compared to the non-musical participants.

But, a music professor from the University of Arkansas, Dr. Elizabeth Margulis, was unsure about the test. She wondered: What if the musician’s brains were responding more to music – not because they had an inborn gift, but because they had learned to listen and respond to music through years of practice?

Dr. Margulis collaborated with Patrick C. M. Wong and colleagues from Northwestern University. They used the functional MRI, but they changed the study. They took two groups of highly trained classical musicians, flute and violin players. Then they would play familiar pieces by J.S. Bach.

Both groups of musicians listened to the classical flute music, and then listened to the same kind of music played on violin. When Margulis looked at the fMRIs she discovered that flute players brains lit up more on the flute pieces, and the violin players did the same thing on the violin pieces. Even the parts of the brain that controlled the muscles used to play the piece were lighting up – but only for the group that played that instrument.

If those who are musically gifted are genetically hardwired that way, the two groups should have had a similar response to both types of music. But they didn’t. Margulis and her colleagues concluded that, while musicians may be naturally gifted, they learn to respond to music through practice. Lots and lots of practice.

Once we have been inundated with the Lord’s mercy to us, the Bible teaches us to devote ourselves to doing good. How to you get to Carnegie Hall? The same way you get to a life of love and kindness.

(copyright by climbinghigher.org and by Marty Kaarre)

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