music

Aug

08

The Gift of Music: A Glimpse of His Glory

Family  Posted by

Music is a Fair and Glorious Gift of God.” – Martin Luther

The Tennessee tots are in town! We have two little granddaughters who live nearby, but our other two little ones live across the country and we miss them terribly. We were delighted when our daughter asked us to babysit for the weekend so she and her husband could enjoy a much-needed getaway.

On Saturday morning, Jeff and I set out without too much of an agenda other than to wear these little ones out with fun. As we headed toward San Diego, I prayed for safety, protection, and divine appointments.

Then I added one more request: I asked our Father to give us eyes to see his glory on display in unexpected ways and in unexpected places.

Morning Songs

Our first stop was a visit to the magnificent new, nine-story central library. The children’s library, decorated with brightly colored Dr. Seuss characters—a nod to San Diego’s own Ted Geisel—was the setting for a morning concert. Given the location and time of day, we expected a kiddie concert that would likely feature sing-alongs of nursery rhymes or Raffi tunes by performers wearing primary colors and big smiles.

The smiles were the only part we got right.

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Jul

20

The Weight of Words in the Heart of a Child

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Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken at the right time.” – Proverbs 25:11

Words seem more ephemeral, insubstantial these days. Although we all know on some level that any words sent out into cyberspace will remain there forever, there is something about a text, an email, or a social media post that makes us believe our words are no more lasting than letters in the sand.

I, for one, am glad to have come of age during a time when handwritten letters were still popular.

Unrecalled Treasures

Lately I’ve been deep into the mid-life purge that marks the transition from accumulation of goods to freeing ourselves from the pull of possessions. Yesterday I unearthed a box of childhood memorabilia that tore my attention from the task of sorting and tossing. I settled on the edge of my bed, eager to see what unrecalled treasures had been hidden away for decades.

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May

12

Dancing with a Star: A Tribute to My Mom

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Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12

You already know the most important thing about my mom if you read my April 19th post about her recent baptism at the age of 86. Now here is the rest of the story of this crazy fun lady who brought me into this world.

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May

13

The Size of Your Canvas

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(First of all, let me say that I prefer dogs to cats by a factor of about fifty, but this watercolor of a blue-eyed cat by my friend Linda Mullen almost makes me want to switch sides. I have no talent in the visual arts, so I am completely dazzled by her ability to use just a little paint and water and paper to recreate a cat that looks like it wants to hop right into your lap and meow. Linda is an artist who deserves a wider audience and so I’m taking this opportunity to share her work, lindamullen.com, and gallery, Ballast Point Gallery, with you. )

The Size of Your Canvas: Reflections on Art and Audience

Some paintings are so big that they are best seen from a great distance.

In Rome I wanted nothing more than for the guards to just go away and leave us alone so that I could lie on my back and gaze up for hours at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Instead, craning my neck in the midst of a hot and sweaty crowd of hundreds of others, I had to grab what I could in the frustratingly short 15 minutes they allowed us to view the frescoes we’d crossed an ocean and waited hours to see.

Other paintings are smaller in size, but no less powerful. At the Louvre in Paris, we were in a similar herd of tourists filing past the Mona Lisa, which turned out to be not a commanding painting at all, if size were the measure. Little more than life size, the drably colored canvas could only be viewed by few people at once. There was an optimal viewing distance, and it was much closer than that of Michaelangelo’s frescoes.

Both are masterpieces.

Last Friday night, Jeff and I happened upon on art show in San Diego featuring a Spanish artist, Royo. His paintings were grand scale expressionistic works of young beauties with downcast eyes, clad in gauzy garments and holding baskets of

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