Super Heroes

Captain America is my new favorite super hero!  My kids saw the movie over the summer and said I would like it.  We just watched it last night... they were right!  I loved it.  There was no bad language, no sexual inuendos, nothing objectionable.  The best thing about it is the character himself.  Steve Rogers is an ordinary (and smallish) guy who just wants to serve his country.  When asked if he wants "to go kill Nazis" he answers "I don't want to kill anyone.  I just don't like bullies.  I don't care where they're from."  He also throws himself on a grenade (turns out it was a fake and just a "test" by the commander) to save his fellow soldiers.  He is a genuine "good guy".  This is the main quality that makes him the perfect candidate for the drug that makes him "super".  The doctor who has chosen him tells him, "Whatever happens, stay who you are. Not just a soldier, but a good man."
There are very few "good men" in this world.  It's a joy and relief to see one like in the movies!  I am blessed to know some good men. One of them was my father.  My brothers are also good men (as are my brother's in law). I also happened to be married to a very good man.  He has the same qualities as Steve Rogers.  He doesn't like bullies.  He would throw himself on a grenade for those around him.  He has a heart of compassion and so many other good qualities.  He just doesn't have the shield and cool suit.  

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence."
-George Washington

 Good advice!  I may print this and put it on my desk (and my dashboard, and my kitchen sink...).

 

 

 

It seems I haven't updated this in awhile.  The past few weeks have been incredibly busy with school and lessons.  Our choral department had a choral festival and concert last week and another one coming up this week.  On top of that our director and his wife had their first baby... a boy (and he's adorable!!).  We also started rehearsals for our school musical.  We'll be doing "Footloose" in February.  This pretty much means that many of my evenings are gone from now until then. 

Even with being busy I am enjoying my job at the High School more and more.  Of course there are days when I'd rather stay home, but, for the most part, I love it.  The director and I have a good rapport with each other (despite the fact that I am a few decades older than he is) and that makes a world of difference. 
I wish things weren't quite so busy at home.  We long for days completely "off" but rarely have those.  I find myself counting the days until Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We're sure to have those days off.  Well, no... Christmas falls on a Sunday this year.  That means playing for worship services.  Well, maybe the next day?

So, this week I turn one year older.  I look back over the past *mumblemumble* years and can't believe how quickly the time has gone.  Sometimes I'm obsessed with planning out the future (as if I could) and other times I'm stuck in the past.  A challenge for me, especially with being so busy, is to live each day, each moment, fully here. 

Well, time for piano students to come.  But first, I need to get something prepared for supper. 
Bye bye, blog.  See you again in a few days/weeks?

And - reset to  0.
Things were going along pretty well.  The whole forgiveness thing... feeling pretty good about it all, dealing with stuff, moving on and then there it was.  It was an already difficult day and I came across a photo.  Bam!  Messed me up... brought back painful memories.    There I was back at 0.  

October!

Fall weather
Home town Festival
Birthdays - mine, my brother's and my niece's
Two new babies born... a neighbor's and a co-worker's!
One Concert and  two Choral Festivals - in the next two weeks.
Counting the days until Thanksgiving, Joseph's return and Christmas.  

The Closet

This has been cogitating for some time.  Now it finally came together this morning.  It's one of those "duh" moments.
At our church for the past 2 months there has been a horrible smell.   There has been a lot of speculation as to the source.  Something in the AC ducts?  Cleaning supplies spilled in a nearby closet? An animal that wandered in there and died?  Finally my husband found the source.  A large container of insecticide had leaked out onto some wood and some bags of artificial flowers.  The wood was thrown out, the flowers were gotten rid of.  The container was disposed of.  The closet was scrubbed, cleaned out and painted.

Finally this morning it clicked.  There is a booklet written by Robert Boyd Munger, called "My Heart Christ's Home",  that talks about a person who has given his life to Christ.  First he invites the Lord into his home, beginning in the Living room, the Lord lives in every place in the house.  Finally He comes to this:

"The Hall Closet

There is just one more matter that I might share with you. 

One day I found Him waiting for me at the door. 

An arresting look was in His eye. As I entered, He said to me, 

"There is a peculiar odor in the house. There is something dead around here. 

It's upstairs. I think it is in the hall closet." As soon as He said this, 

I knew what He was talking about. Yes, there was a small closet up there on the landing, 

just a few feet square, and in that closet, behind lock and key, 

I had one or two little personal things that I did not want anyone to know about 

and certainly I did not want Christ to see them. 

I knew they were dead and rotting things left over from the old life. 

And yet I loved them, and I wanted them so for myself that 

I was afraid to admit they were there.

Reluctantly, I went up with Him, and as we mounted the stairs 

the odor became stronger and stronger.

He pointed at the door. "It's in there! Some dead thing!"

I was angry. That's the only way I can put it. 

I had given Him access to the library, the dining room, the living room, 

the workroom, the playroom, and now He was asking me about a little two-by-four closet.

I said to myself, "This is too much. I am not going to give Him the key."

"Well," He said, reading my thoughts, "if you think I'm going to stay up here 

on the second floor with this odor, you are mistaken. 

I will take my bed out on the back porch. I'm certainly not going to put up with that." 

Then I saw Him start down the stairs.

When you have come to know and love Christ, the worst thing that can happen 

is to sense His fellowship retreating from you. 

I had to surrender. "I'll give You the key," I said sadly, "but You'll

have to open the closet and clean it out. I haven't the strength to do it."

"I know," He said. "I know you haven't. Just give me the key. 

Just authorize me to take care of that closet and I will." 

So with trembling fingers I passed the key to Him. He took it from my hand, 

walked over to the door, opened it, entered it, took out 

all the putrefying stuff that was rotting there, and threw it away. 

Then He cleaned the closet and painted it, fixed it up, doing it all in a moment's time. 

Oh, what victory and release to have that dead thing out of my life!"

I've had some things rotting away in my heart for the past few years.  I try and try to take care of it myself, but can't seem to do it.  Maybe all along the Lord has been waiting for me to just ask Him.  I'm ready for the rotten smell to go. 

"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? 

How do you go on... 

when in your heart you begin to understand... 

there is no going back? 

There are some things that time cannot mend... 

some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold."

- from "The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King" 

These words have such meaning.  As I think back to 10 years ago... September 11, 2001; to 2 years ago and some of the most painful times we have been through and then my nephew's death in March, these words ring true.  As a friend of mine just said, there are things that are a "forever process".  Time does not heal all wounds.  We learn to adapt and adjust.  We learn to live with a limp.