The Tale Of Two Pianos

"On a whim, I thought I'd go back to my old piano and play a song," the pianist said.  "Oh my!  I couldn't believe it.  It sounded so pathetic!  When that was all I had, I was content.  I didn't know any better.  But now that I have a new piano, a grand piano, I know the difference."

The old piano?   Her parents gave the pianist the best they could afford.  It cost $50.  It was a cast-off piano that had been used in a USO recreational lounge on a military base overseas.  In addition, it had been moved from home to home in military housing as the 'first' piano for beginning piano students.  Someone had started to refinish it; half of it was covered with dirty, cream-colored paint and half of it was stripped down to bare wood.  Deep cigarette burns marked up the flat surfaces.  The pianist's mom finished stripping the paint off the piano and refinished it, masking the cigarette burns by painting over them the look of wood grain. The bench was a kitchen bench salvaged from alongside the curb on trash day and refinished to match the piano.

The piano was shipped back to the states with the rest of the family's goods.  Five more times it was moved.  It was heavier than most pianos, but even so, twice it was moved to the pianist's second floor bedroom!  Having it tuned became more and more of a problem because the action inside the frame was German and parts weren't available in the US.  A resourceful piano tuner fabricated replacement parts as best he could. 

The pianist was gifted and despite the quality of the piano she practiced on, music moved her and moved others when they heard her play. 

The pianist married and the piano went with her to her new home.  Her husband vowed that one day he would buy his bride a different piano- a grand piano.  That seemed  to her like a pipe dream- something fun to think about, but something that would never happen.  The pianist still played her old piano and was content. 

The husband loved his wife.  His vow about a grand piano wasn't just idle words.  It always came back to his mind when his wife played.  When the pianist and her husband moved to a farm, the husband made sure the central, light, airy room of the farmhouse was left empty.  He called it the 'piano room'.  He said that one day that was where the grand piano would go and he would install a chandelier above it.

The day came.  The pianist came home in the evening from work and gracing the 'piano room' was a brand new grand piano!  Her beaming husband sat next to it.  It was his gift of love to his bride.  Even to this day, the pianist can barely believe it.  Music has never sounded so wonderful to her! 

And so it came as an utter surprise to the pianist when she recently went back to play a song on the old piano and discovered how pathetic it sounded.  It wasn't that the piano was so much out of tune, but that after a note was played, there was always a discordant twang that lingered.  Additionally, the old felts on the hammers, despite being filed to size, continued to sporaticially hit adjacent notes.  However, most disconcerting to the pianist was the sluggish, unresponsive touch of the keys.  She said it felt like hitting a pillow when she played; there was no instantaneous response of the keys to her fingers tips. She couldn't create the music her soul longed to express.

The difference between the old piano and the new piano reminded me of what the Bible explains about mankind's two natures.  From our parents we inherited the best they had; they gave us our innate human nature.  It was adequate for us to learn how to function (for better or worse) in this world.  However, as we all know, human nature is flawed.  It is not what God had intended from the beginning.  Mankind is unresponsive to the touch of God, just as the old piano is unresponsive to the touch of the pianist's fingers.

However, when we are joined to Jesus Christ, we become new people.  We are literally given a new nature that can indeed be responsive to the touch of God, just as the new piano is sensitive and fully responsive to the pianist's fingers.  This new nature comes to us because we belong to someone new; we are the bride of  Christ and no longer children of the world, just as the new piano came to the pianist from her husband and not from her poverty-stricken parents.  The new nature comes as a gift.  Just as the pianist's husband vowed to provide a grand piano for his bride, the One who died for our sins promises us this new life that is sensitive to God's will.

This tale of two pianos explains for me what the Bible talks about in Romans 4- 8 and is alluded to in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and in Ezekiel 36:25-28.  What a gift!  To be responsive to the heart and soul and touch of God!  I like the knowledge of that!

Frozen Stiff

Years ago, on wintery days like the picture above, my mother wasn't able to hang the family wash outside to dry.  Instead, after running our bedding and clothing through the wringer washer and wash tubs every Monday morning, she hung the wet clothes on lines my dad had strung up in the woodshed.  Since there was no heat in that building, Monday evening my mom brought the laundry back into the house to finish drying it over a rack of wooden bars in the dining room.  What I remember best was my mom's attempt to bring my dad's long johns back into the house.  They were frozen stiff!   My mom tried as best as she could to manuver the freezing-cold, flat garments with stiff outstretched arms and legs through the doorway, but it was wasn't easy.

I thought of those frozen long johns the other day when I read a selection from one of J. I. Packer's books called Knowing God.  Packer writes  "Constantly we find ourselves slipping into bitterness and apathy and gloom as we reflect on past disappointments and present heartbreaks, which we frequently do.  The attitude we show to the world is a sort of dried-up stoicism, miles removed from the 'joy unspeakable and full of glory' (1 Peter 1:8) that Peter took for granted his readers were displaying."  Since it was on a nasty, freezing, and snowy day that I read this selection from J. I. Packer, I imagined that "dried-up stoicism" was about the same as "frozen, stiff long johns".

I don't know about others, but I find that I slip into bitterness and apathy and gloom at times.  I wouldn't be surprised that during this Christmas season, there are many others who, when reflecting on past disappointments and present heartbreaks, also slip into bitterness and apathy and gloom.  Somehow we manage to function outwardly when we are around others celebrating the season's festivities, but inwardly our emotions and spirits are stiff and cold, and we know it!  We can fool others, but we can't fool ourselves or God. 

There is a request made of God in Psalm 51 that seems appropriate for me and other Christian's to pray when they feel overwhelmed and emotionally frozen at this time of the year.  In Psalm 51 David, the Psalmist, confesses his sin and asks God to have mercy upon him according to His steadfast love.  David also makes this request of God: Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:12).

That sounds like a good prayer for this harried, frantic time of year.  What do you think?

Leonard The Lamb

My mind runs through memories of the holiday season.  My husband's favorite Christmas movie was  What A Wonderful Life, the heartwarming story of a man discovering the importance of his well-lived, generous life.  On the other hand, my favorite movie is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the story of the renegade Herdman children bringing wild adventure to a usually calm Christmas program.  It reminds me of a event I want to share here.  I've already included it in my annual Christmas letter.

It happened during the children's annual Christmas pageant at the Free Methodist Church in Huntsville, Alabama in 1975.   A soft murmer rippled through the congregation after the shepherds arrived at the manger, because, in the subdued lighting while a teenager sang O Holy Night, it appeared that one of the shepherds held a real live lamb.  The shepherd held the lamb tightly in his arms while the lamb gazed around at everything and then finally snuggled closer to the shepherd in loving confidence.  However, it wasn't a real live lamb; it was a puppet.  Our family still has this puppet; we call him Leonard the Lamb.  How he came to be is an amazing story!

That was the year I volunteered to do the costumes for the Christmas program.  I made the three wise men's crowns by gluing gaudy costume jewelry onto strips of indoor/outdoor carpet with liquid nails.  Then I recycled used bathrobes, coat linings, and bed covers into robes for Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men.  At one point, I turned the fleece-lined hood of an old jacket inside out.  When I threw the hood on the floor with scraps of cloth as useless, it landed in such a way that it reminded me of the shape of a lamb's head.  Picking the hood back up, I began envisioning it as a puppet for my ten-year-old son Mark to carry as a shepherd.  I knew I could teach him how to make the puppet move realistically.

And so, I fashioned Leonard the Lamb out of the fleece of the jacket hood, adding glossy black buttons as eyes and gluing on a yarn black nose.  I put a Styrofoam ball inside the head for shape and fashioned a bent coat hanger to make the ears stick out and be moveable.  But then I was stymied because I didn't have any more fabric with which to make ears.  In desperation, I cut a 2" by 2" square out of one side of the puppet's neck and used it to make the ears.  I told my son he'd have to be careful to only let one side of the lamb's neck show since the other side had a big square hole in it. 

A few days later, in the mail came samples of sewing materials, fabrics, that I could order from a certain company.  I had never ever heard of the company, nor had I ever bought fabric from anyone through the mail.  I had never had such an offer before, nor have I ever had such an offer since.  There were a few swatches of dark polyester trouser material in the envelope, and there was also a 2" by 2" square of fleece that was nearly an identical color and texture as Leonard the Lamb.  At once I sewed the square into the puppet's neck.  It fit the hole exactly!  And it was barely noticeable!  If you look closely at the picture above, you might be able to see the square of slightly different fleece in the middle and the bottom of Leonard's neck.

The arrival of that swatch of matching material wasn't just a coincidence.  It was an example of God's watch care and grace.  As I recall that event of thirty-four years ago, I continue to be amazed that God cared about Leonard the Lamb who was merely a puppet.  I learned an unforgetable lesson from that event-- If God cared for that inanimate puppet to be made whole, surely He cares that much for me.

That's the message of Christmas itself.  God loved us so much that He sent Jesus, His Son, to earth as a human being, so that one day on the cross Jesus would be the sacrificial lamb to take away our sins.  Truly, to be whole, we need God's healing of our past and the wrongs done to us.  That is what Jesus was born to accomplish. 

Perhaps that is why a movie about a Christmas pageant is my favorite Christmas movie-- it reminds me of this lesson I learned long ago.

Tribute To Irene

I was surprised to read Irene’s obituary last week. Irene was 66 years old.

Irene and I were born the same week in the same hospital. Our mothers were roommates, and as a result, a lifelong friendship developed between our families. As a very young child, I remember playing with Irene. The picture above is Irene and I on the lawn of my childhood home. Later on, at the time Irene was 3 or 4 years old, she was placed in an institution for the physically and mentally handicapped. That was what was done with profoundly handicapped people back then. I never saw Irene again.

Over the years, I occasionally thought about this girl who was my own age and I wondered what had become of her. There seemed to be an unspoken understanding that none of us would talk about Irene. I became good friends with her mother, and as an artist, Irene’s mother encouraged me for years in my own artwork. I wonder, now, if my presence in her life reminded her of Irene and made her sad for her own daughter.

A few years ago, someone is the state system of the Office of Retardation, upon hearing what town I lived in, asked me if I knew an Irene who was originally from my town. Yes, it was the Irene I knew. I found out that Irene was in a wheelchair and dependent upon others for all of her care. I was told that she had beautiful snow-white hair. Just like her mom, I thought to myself. I put it on my “to-do” list to travel to see Irene even though I knew she wouldn’t know who I was. Somehow, I always felt a kinship to this early playmate of mine. But, I never got around to traveling to see Irene. Now, it’s too late!

Society changes and its way of dealing with its handicapped citizens has changed. Institutionalizing those with disabilities is no longer the primary recommendation that medical and educational experts advise.

It was 30 years after Irene and I were born, that my third child developed a serious seizure disorder with its resulting retardation. No one suggested that my son be institutionalized. There were government and educational services available to help him remain at home and be a part of his family. How thankful I am for that, because this son is a special blessing to our family. The picture above shows my son as a youngster in his snowmobile helmet with full-face guard that permitted him to play without being injured from his dozens of sudden falls each day. Over the years, the seizures lessened, and he no longer had to wear a helmet. During that time, he had wonderful special education teachers in school and excellent neurologists to monitor his medications. Now, as an adult, he lives in a group home, works at a sheltered workshop, and he has friends and activities he likes to do.

What can be said about the value of a person who had such a limited life experience as Irene or about my son who will need daily help and supervision for the rest of his life? Jesus spoke about these handicapping conditions in a conversation with his disciples. Listen to this episode from the Bible: “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” (John 9:1-3)

I don’t understand how it all works, but Jesus affirms that in some manner, individuals afflicted with severe handicaps are a necessary part of God’s way to display His works in this world. God’s sovereignty to create each human person, as He deems best, and His sovereignty to dispense to them abilities or withhold abilities is God’s right. He is the Potter; we are the clay.

I believe with all my heart that Irene was one of God’s special creations, made above all to display the handiwork of God in some mysterious and magnificent manner. Human eyes would look at her, pity her, and question her worth. But according to the Word of God, in some manner the works of God were displayed in her. What greater worth can anyone have than that?

Irene, this is my tribute to you.

Montezuma Swamp

Birds I hadn’t seen before- that’s what I wanted to see! So, I looked through my birding book and found that about two hours away from home was a mysterious sounding place called the Montezuma Swamp. It’s a national wildlife refuge and an especially important place for migrating birds in the spring and fall. Just the place for me to find new birds!

Planning to make a day of it, I hooked my small camping trailer behind my car, and off I went. I passed three of New York’s Finger Lakes and went through several good-sized towns, and finally, I saw the sign- MONTEZUMA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE. After driving half an hour slowly beside acres and acres and acres of cattails, I finally found the perfect place- a small parking lot next to a small shallow lake surrounded by… you guessed it- acres and acres and acres of cattails. To get past the visual distraction of the cattails, there was a birding observation tower to climb that looked out over the lake. Actually, the lake is called a pool, Tschache Pool (pronounced ‘shocky’).

The birds on the lake were a long ways from me, and even with my binoculars, I didn’t have any idea of what I was seeing. At last, a very elderly gentleman climbed the tower with his tripod and spotting scope, and he gave me a guided tour through his spotting scope of what I was looking at. The most exciting thing to see was four bald eagles! I was actually looking at real, live bald eagles! There was an adult eagle with its distinctive white head, and three of its offspring with their first year, all-over brown plumage. One of the huge juveniles took off and soared through the sky to my delight!

I was thinking about how I had to go to where the birds were, and especially to where the bald eagle was in order to see it. Because I was desperate enough to see new birds, I had to go to the Montezuma Swamp.

At the same time, I’ve been thinking about people who say that they don’t know about God- what He is like- but they want to know Him. In addition, I’ve been thinking about Christians who say that they just don’t seem to be able to live as Christ Jesus would want them to live because they feel defeated and spiritually powerless. These kinds of people say they are desperate for a deeper, more meaningful spiritual life. However, they are not alone. I’ve also been thinking about how I can get into a slump, and Christianity seems sort of ‘ho-hum’ to me. I know that isn’t right.

At those times, our actions show whether we are really desperate for more of God. Let’s think about it. If we want to buy some socks, Tylenol, and a CD, do we know where to go? Certainly! We go to WalMart. If we want to get a new car, do we know where to go? Certainly! We go to the car dealer in town. If we have an abscessed tooth, do we know where to go? Certainly! We go to the dentist. If we are out of bread, do we know where to go? Certainly! We go to the grocery store. Why then, when other people and I are spiritually hungry, are we mystified about where to go?

Jesus said, “ Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) Therefore, if we want to live spiritually- really live spiritually!- then we need to be feeding on the word of God. We need to go to the Bible and read it. Through God’s Word we see God clearly and hear his heartbeat of gracious mercy that He is bestowing upon mankind. Through God’s Word, we see who Jesus is and hear His promise to satisfy spiritual hunger.

If we are desperate for more of God, we need to look steadily and carefully at what we are reading in the Bible. Sometimes we even need a wiser and more spiritually mature person- one who eagerly studies the Bible himself or herself- to come alongside to point out and identify what we are reading. It’s just like the elderly man who identified the birds that I was seeing yesterday. I asked him why he kept coming back for so many years to look at the birds. He said there was always something new to see and learn. It’s that way with reading the Bible if we are desperate enough.

It’s simple to understand. Where do we go to see birds? To the Montezuma Swamp. Were do we go if we’re spiritually hungry? To the Bible!

Monster Swells and Crashing Waves?

It was a sunny, pleasant day at the state park next to Lake Ontario. There was a gentle breeze and just a hint of fall in the air. Canadian geese and seagulls flew overhead. Only one sailboat could be seen on the horizon. Small waves lapped the shore.

As I meandered along the beach next to the water, I spotted a piece of driftwood that was worthy of a photo. I sat in the sand just above the water line and aimed my camera at the driftwood; I was waiting for just the right background wave to complement the driftwood in the foreground. I watched the swells of water out a ways, trying to judge the biggest and best one that would crest at the right moment for my photo.

As minutes passed, I studied the waves more and more. Then, I set down the camera and picked up my binoculars to aim at the swells and cresting waves. Whereas, before, I was perfectly content to be just a foot away from the water, suddenly, fear gripped me at the frightening magnitude of the oncoming swell and the force of the crashing wave in front of me. By looking through the binoculars I was sure I was about to be overwhelmed with a Tsunami and be swept out to sea!

Quickly, I pulled the binoculars down to look and be sure I was still safe above the water line. I remembered a verse in the Bible that says that God set the boundaries of how far the waters of the seas can come up on the land. Once I got that thought in my head and decided I could trust the truth of it, I looked through the binoculars again and began to enjoy the magnified illusion of frightening, monstrous swells and violently crashing waves before my eyes. God was not going to- all of a sudden- violate the physical laws of nature and let the water come up and grab me! As a result, I felt safe to continue to enjoy the adrenaline rush of being frightened.

Since then, however, I’ve wondered what it was within me that wanted to continue to “feel” scared by looking at the illusion of monstrous swells and crashing waves through the safety of binoculars. I wonder if it is like the thrill of riding a roller coaster- a frightening, but safe experience.

However, there are times when adrenaline-producing experiences aren’t safe. Some people like to live on that edge. They like to push themselves beyond the point of safety. Some examples might be- people who participate in extreme sports, people who push their bodies beyond the point of exhaustion to get rich, people who get involved in street drugs, people who have the money but won’t replace bald tires on their car, or people who assume pornography won’t hurt their marriage. Those are only a few situations that quickly come to mind. There are a multitude of risky behaviors we engage in-or have engaged in- if we stop to think about it.

TheBible talks about these things. God’s personality is such that He cares intensely for the welfare of all mankind. For that reason, when people deliberately put themselves in harm’s way and presume upon God’s kindness to watch over them, it is called “putting God to the test”. Jesus said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Jesus said he came to earth that we could have life and have it abundantly. I've been thinking over the difference between living abundantly and living by putting God to the test. Sometimes it's not easy to know which of those we are doing. We probably ought to think about it and ask God to show us which we are doing- living recklessly or living abundantly.

If you need wisdom- if you want to know what God wants you to do- ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. James 1:4,5

Finishing What Is Started

You are no doubt asking yourself what this is. Let me explain.

Shortly after 9/11 while I was having pizza with my daughter-in-law at DeSalvo's in Warsaw, an idea came into my head for a book. Most of us were still trying to understand the events of the terrorist attack against the US, and I had been doing the same thing. The idea that came to me concerned how Christian young people living in a country completely devastated by enemy occupation could have their faith nurtured if Bibles and churches were outlawed. The idea seemed full blown in my mind as an adventure story like the Hardy Boy books we've all read. Yet it was to be far more. It was to be a lengthy allegory explaining the person of Jesus. Having been a Bible study leader for years, I recognized that the idea came by God's nudge through the Holy Spirit. I grabbed a napkin and scribbled down the main ideas of the book's plot, and then I returned to eating pepperoni pizza.

As the days went by, I thought more about the book I was to write. I knew I had to do watercolor paintings to accompany the storyline and I'd need models to draw from. I bought six artist's manikins and began making faces on them by using light cardboard, freezer tape, acrylic paint, and fuzzy pieces of hair. Then I sewed clothing appropriate for each character. As I did all of that, I thought a lot about each character's personality and how they would fit into the story line. These 'people' became very real to me.

Now, eight years later, I'm on the third major revision of the book. There are forty three chapters, 150,000 words (more or less), sixty watercolors and an appendix of over three hundred of the names of Jesus that are in the Bible. I have plans to self publish the book later this year. The book's called AFTER THE DEVASTATIONS- THE JOURNEY.

I've had a lot!!!! of computer problems in the process of writing, formatting, scanning pictures, etc in the last eight years. It was early this spring that more computer problems brought me to needing high-speed Internet, and as a result of exploring those opportunities, I starting experimenting with writing blogs accompanied by my photos. I have enjoyed this activity and in the future I hope to continue writing more blogs.

However, in the meantime, I need to do something else. As I study the Word of God, I am becoming more and more convinced that the days ahead will be full of great tribulation for Christians before the soon return of Jesus Christ. I really need to get the book finished and published as soon as I can; it is meant to be a source of encouragement to Christians going through hard times. Bibles and gatherings of Christian believers are being outlawed in more and more places in this world. These difficult times are most likely to come upon us here in the United States, too. Believers need to know the person of Jesus better as they face these times. The book I've written is not only an entertaining adventure story, but it highlights the excellency of who Jesus Christ is. The book needs to be finished.

This morning I read in the Bible, God's admonition to us of what we are to do as we begin to recognize the signs of Jesus' soon return: But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Luke 21:34,35

Being weighed down with dissipation- that phrase spoke to my heart. Writing blogs is dissipating my time and energy. I've been scattering my mental attention and efforts. Writing blogs is not sinful. But for me, at this time, it is taking away my focus from publishing the book about Jesus. Revising, editing and formatting a book is incredibly hard, boring work! No wonder I've enjoyed the easier fun of blogging. But I need to finish the book that I started.

I want to thank all of you who have encouraged me in my blogging efforts. Your kind words have meant a lot to me. God willing, I'll return to blogging by the end of the year.

But in the meantime, with God's help I'm going to finish what I started.