This is one of my all-time favorite versions of one of my all-time favorite songs. I wasn’t allowed to watch The Wizard of Oz growing up, so I never associated this song with that movie, it was just a song that we had on an old 45 that I always loved. And then when I heard this version, I fell in love all over again. My kids knew this version before they ever heard another one because I have played it often in their years on this earth. With another Monday here along with colder temps, I just needed the smile that comes along with listening to this song and I thought I would share my smile with you today.
Category: Music
Never Let Go
My heart is hurting today. I have friends facing health issues for themselves or their children. I have friends facing divorce. I have friends who are feeling bombarded and alone. So, today, I am singing this song for each and every one of them.
Will you join me?
Monday Music: Celebrity Sightings and Lazy Days
I don’t have time to write a real blog today, I am too busy lying around, hanging with my kids, and catching up on The Voice, and Dancing with the Stars: All Stars.
Speaking of The Voice, last season, one of the competitors on Christina’s team was Anthony Evans and guess what? I met him last night at a concert/night of worship with Kari Jobe, All Sons and Daughters and him!
See? There’s photographic proof. 🙂
And he was as fabulous in person as he was on TV. He shared his new song with us so I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy!
Monday Music: Find You On My Knees
Life is hard. Life isn’t fair. And sometimes the weight of the world (our world) seems pretty heavy on our shoulders. At least that is true for me.
One day last week a friend and I were talking about this and she had me listen to this song. I sat at my desk and listened with tears streaming down my face. Sometimes, a song can better express how you feel than you can even begin to put into words. Things like “When my hope is gone, when the fear is strong, when the pain is real, when it’s hard to heal, when my faith is shaken and my heart is broken and my joy is stolen, God I know that You lift me up, You’ll never leave me searching” just speak to where I feel like I have been recently.
If you are struggling, listen to this and find encouragement today.
Kari Jobe
Find You On My Knees
Reality
Maybe it is just where I am right now, but I can’t stop listening to Kenny Chesney these days. Perhaps that means I need a vacation, which isn’t happening anytime soon. So I guess I’ll keep listening to Kenny, running my miles, doing my job, parenting my kids, coaching cheer leading, feeding my family, loving my husband and dreaming of the beach.
How do you keep going when reality is more than you can handle?
Don’t Blink
School starts this week.
Mostly, I am glad. School starting means routine is back. There are set bedtimes and wake-up times. There are still lots of things to do, but in the context of routine, it doesn’t feel so crazy.
But when I start to think about it, I get a little emotional. My firstborn, my daughter, my Anne is starting Jr. High. Time just seems to be going too fast. It only seems like yesterday I was sitting in my rocking chair with her in my arms.
It all started to feel a little too real yesterday. One of the “rites of passage” in our church is to present the outgoing 5th graders/incoming 6th graders with new Bibles. And yesterday was that day. As I watched Anne and her friends standing in front of the congregation, I was teary-eyed struck by how these kids (many of which I have known since they were born) are so big, so grown-up, so ready for this next phase of life.
When I dropped her off for her first day of Kindergarten, I smiled as she walked away, and then bawled as I drove away. I have a feeling the first day of Jr. High will be much the same.
So today I give you this song as a reminder to cherish every moment. Because they are gone much too quickly.
Food and Fitness Friday: In Therapy
I have a magnet on my refrigerator that says:
In my life, this is so true. I run for health. I run for enjoyment. I run because I need to exercise. But I also run to leave my troubles behind. I run with friends to talk and process what is happening in our lives. I run, not in isolation, but in community, because that is what I am made for.
So what happens when you don’t run for a week during a pretty stressful time?
Let’s just say this: it ain’t pretty.
A crazy week last week, followed by a running attempt that ended abruptly with a back that completely tightened up on me and stayed that way for a few days has sidelined my running for almost another week. And I’m struggling. When I don’t run, I find excuses to eat badly. When I don’t run, my overall mood is darker. When I don’t run, I hurt – both physically and mentally/emotionally. In other words, no running makes for a grumpy Chrisy.
So in the midst of that, I have to find other means of “therapy.” Sometimes that is sitting with a book. Sometimes that is watching the Olympics. Sometimes it’s listening to music (although too much Kenny Chesney has me ready to run away to a tropical beach somewhere these days.) Sometimes that is getting my nails done. Sometimes that is letting my kids brush, straighten or otherwise play with my hair. Sometimes that is writing in my journal. Sometimes that is reading my Bible. Sometimes it is setting time aside for prayer. Sometimes it’s just going to bed early. But all of the time it is work to find what it is that I need to do in order to have some “therapy” time. And that requires me to choose those things. Which is hard. It is easier to just be grumpy. It is easier to hide from life. But I can’t choose easy.
I hope to be up and running again by the weekend, even though my therapy partners are off doing a race. But in the meantime, I’ll continue looking for therapy times in other ways.
What things are therapeutic for you and how do you deal with it when those things aren’t an option?
Amazing Grace
As I hiked with my sister yesterday morning and we came across a waterfall we weren’t sure we’d see or not based on the lack of rain in the area, I was once again amazed by the grace of God and that amazing gift of His grace that he gives to us daily. Then as I was listening to some music this morning, I heard this song and thought I would share. Enjoy!
Monday Music 4
Last night my family and I went to see the Springfield Muni production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. I saw this show with my husband (who doesn’t do musicals – but loved this one) about 10 years ago and have loved it ever since. So when we found out not only that it was in Springfield, but that a couple of our friends were in it, one of them playing Joseph, we had to go. We got rained out on Saturday, so we had to go back on Sunday, but it was well worth two trips to Springfield.
One of my favorite songs from the show is “Close Every Door,” and as I listened again last night, I was reminded why. It is a great reminder that life isn’t about us when we live for Christ. It isn’t about our happiness or our life. It isn’t about what our circumstances look like. It is about the fact that we have been promised more than this life can offer. And our God is faithful to fulfill His promises.
I thought I would share the song with you today. It’s not Owen singing it, but I guess Donny Osmond will do. 🙂
Close Every Door
Close every door to me, hide all the world from me
Bar all the windows and shut out the light
Do what you want with me, hate me and laugh at me
Darken my daytime and torture my night
If my life were important I
Would ask will I live or die
But I know the answers lie far from this world
Close every door to me, keep those I love from me
Children of Israel are never alone
For I know I shall find my own peace of mind
For I have been promised a land of my own.
CHILDREN:
Close every door to me, hide all the world from me
Bar all the windows and shut out the light
La la la la la la (REPEAT)
JOSEPH
Just give me a number instead of my name
Forget all about me and let me decay
I do not matter
I’m only one person
Destroy me completely then throw me away
If my life were important I
Would ask will I live or die
But I know the answers lie far from this world
Close every door to me keep those I love from me
Children of Israel are never alone
For we know we shall find our own peace of mind
For we have been promised a land of our own
Love Makes People Do…
If you grew up going to church, you have probably listened to “The Music Machine” a time or two. In my case, probably two thousand or more. I still own it on vinyl. And I bought it on CD for my kids a few years back. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is the story of two kids who wake up in “Agapeland” and meet the conductor who shows them this fabulous machine, “put something in it and a song comes out.” After trying a few things like whistles, strings, and a smile, they put in the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This morning, I have the song “Love” from that album going around in my head. I can’t find a video for you, but the lyrics to that song are:
Love, love, love makes people happy
Love, love, love makes people free
Love makes people do the things they know they ought to do
Love is doing things for you and me
Love love, love, love makes people friendly
Love love, love, love makes people kind
Love makes people do the things they know they ought to do
Love is helping those who fall behind
We need more love
It’s easy to see
We need God’s love
That’s the way it should be
Love, love, love makes people thankful
Love, love, love makes people share
Love makes people do the things they know they ought to do
Love is showing others that you care
We need more love
It’s easy to see
We need God’s love
That’s the way it should be
Love, love, love makes people happy
Love, love, love makes people free
Love makes people do the things they know they ought to do
Love is doing things for you and me
Love makes people do the things they know they ought to do
Love is doing things for you and me
I think the reason I am singing this song today is because I have been reading I John this week and I am pretty sure every other sentence is about love and Christ’s love and what that should look like in our lives. This love is not self-seeking, but self-sacrificing. This love is the indicator of our relationship with Christ.
In addition to reading I John this week, my friend and I finished John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be and in the last chapter he tells the story of Evelyn Brand, a woman who embodied the love of Christ in all she did for her whole life. Here is her story as told in the book:
…When she was a young woman she felt called by God to go to India. As a single woman in 1909, a calling like that required a truckload of faith and an equal amount of determination. She married a young man named Jessie and together they began a ministry to people in rural India, bringing education and medical supplies, and building roads to reduce the isolation of the poor.
Early in their ministry they went seven years without a single convert, but then a priest of a local tribal religion developed a fever and grew deathly ill. Nobody else would go near him, but Evelyn and Jessie nursed him as he was dying. He said, This God, Jesus, must be the true God because only Jessie and Evelyn will care for me in my dying.
The priest gave his children to them to care for after he died — and that became a spiritual turning point in that part of the world. People began to examine the life and teachings of Jesus, and in increasing numbers began to follow him. Evelyn and Jessie had thirteen years of productive service, then Jessie died. By this time, Evelyn was fifty years old, and everyone expected her to return to her home in England. But she would not do it…
She was known and loved for miles around as “Granny Brand,” and she stayed another twenty years under the mission board she had served so faithfully. Her son, Paul, came over when she was seventy years old, and this is what he said about his mom: “This is how to grow old. Allow everything else to fall away until those around you see only love.”
…She had spent her life in India, including twenty years of widowhood, and at age seventy she received word from her home mission office in England that they were not going to give her another five-year term. They felt that she was simply getting too old.
But she was also stubborn.
A party was held to celebrate her time in India, and everyone there cheered her on. “Have a good trip back home,” they all said.
“I’ll tell you a little secret,” she announced. “I’m not going back home. I’m staying in India.”
Evelyn had a little shack built with some resources that she had smuggled in. Then she bought a pony to get around the mountains, and this septuagenarian would ride from village to village on horseback to tell people about Jesus. She did that for five years on her own. One day, at seventy-five years old, she fell off and broke her hip. Her son, Paul Brand, the eminent doctor, said to her, “Mom, you had a great run. God’s used you. It’s time to turn it over now. You go on back home.”
“I am not going back home,” she said…She spent another eighteen years traveling from one village to another on horseback. Falls, concussions, sicknesses, and aging could not stop her. Finally, when she hit ninety-three years old, she could not ride horseback any more. so the men in these villages–because they loved Granny Brand so much–put her on a stretcher and carried her from one village to another. She lived two more years and gave those years as a gift, carried on a stretcher, to help the poorest of the poor. She died, but she never retired. She just graduated.
This is an amazing story to me. Not just because Granny Brand loved God and loved people so much that she spent her life – in sickness and in health – telling people about Him, but the fact that her love for the people and for God had been multiplied and that translated into people loving God, her, and others so much that they were willing to carry her around on a stretcher for two years so she could continue to love people enough to tell them about Jesus.
“Love makes people do, the things they know they ought to do…”
We need God’s love to invade our souls that much. We need to show God’s love in extravagant ways. People need to see nothing but God’s love shining through us.
I want to be like Granny Brand. I want to have that kind of love for Jesus.
How about you?