My Fantastic Boring Day

A friend asked me last night how my day was. I can’t remember what I said. Something nondescript. Okay? Good? Fine?

He replied, “Not fantastic?”

Well, it was a pretty ordinary day. I ate the same thing for breakfast that I always eat – scrambled eggs and toast. I worked all day. I went to orchestra rehearsal in the evening. I guess that means I never go hungry, I have a fulfilling job that pays the bills, and I have friends who enjoy making music together. Nothing tragic happened. That’s pretty fantastic.

As we enter the holiday season, I think of my friends who are going through difficult times, those who have lost loved ones. If you’re one of those friends, please know I’m praying for you.

If you’re not facing tragedy, if you’re more like me, sometimes wondering if life is in a rut, join me in praising God this Thanksgiving for blessing us with so many fantastic boring days.

Forever Is a Beautiful Word

I just stuck a forever stamp on an envelope and carried it out to the mailbox. I’m not sure the stamp will be good forever. But I believe in forever.

I believe that the real Jennifer is not my body that will die. The real me is inside that body and will live forever. That is the reason nothing on this earth quite satisfies my soul. God made me for eternity. He made me forever.

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 NKJV

The Power of [Or] in the Search for Truth

As I mentioned in my last post, my alma mater has embarked on an ad campaign about “The Power of [And].” However, I have found the little word or gets me much further in my search for truth.

In our pluralistic culture, we are nervous about saying one thing is right and another is wrong. Be tolerant. Keep an open mind. Relativism is good. Absolutism is bad.

But in The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom suggested relativism itself closed our minds. People always knew different cultures had different opinions about good and bad. The historian Herodotus considered this a challenge to study nations and their cultures to learn what was good and bad in each. Relativists say we must not judge. We must respect them all.

That leads to a problem. If all cultures are equally good, why should I invest time and energy to study all of them? I can learn about a couple. Enjoy their music. Eat their food. And go on with life. My life is fine the way it is.

But if absolute truth exists, if there is an ultimate good, it is worth searching for it. I will sell all I have for that priceless pearl. Education becomes a quest. My mind is open because I want to know.

What direction do we want to take? We can approach our studies with both/and logic. Diverse cultures are equally good. Let’s have an international festival and then go on our merry way.

Otherwise, we can take the either/or approach. Deep understanding of cultures reveals conflicting value systems. One or the other is right. They cannot both be. Am I courageous enough to dig this deep? Will I admit that my culture isn’t always right? Will I change the way I live when I find a better way? Am I brave enough to state graciously when an aspect of my culture is better? This is the only way to grow in truth.

I choose “The Power of [Or].”

The Power of [Or]

My alma mater, UW Eau Claire, began an ad campaign last spring. It’s all about their new branding, “The Power of [And].” There is some truth in the ads. Students at UWEC aren’t pigeonholed into one discipline. They can be a “business woman and bicyclist” or “entrepreneur and entertainer.” Reaching beyond our primary field, putting an and in our lives, takes us out of our comfort zone and stretches us as human beings. But we do our students and community a disservice if we forget “The Power of [Or].”

As a private music teacher, I watch my students reach the maturing stage of or. When they are young, they can do this and that and the other thing. In middle school and high school, they must make choices. Their time is limited. Will they do another sport or practice violin? Will they be in the school play or join the youth symphony? Will they pursue dance or choir or forensics?

We mature as we face the or decisions in our lives. These decisions force us to define our purpose and refine our goals. We confront tough questions. What is most valuable? What matters in life?

Every or question has an element of tension, maybe even conflict. It is in that tension where we grow. Do I have the courage to live in the or?

When God Says No – Part 2

In my last post I wrote about a time when Jesus said no to His own hunger. “Big deal,” we think. Our troubles go much deeper than an empty stomach. Broken relationships. Evil. Pain. What does God say about these?

There is a sense in which God denied His own desires long before Jesus came to earth. His first great act of self-sacrifice was when He gave us free will. God could have created humans who would do all the right things. We could have been His puppets, and the world would have been perfect. But a puppet cannot love. It cannot have a relationship.

God willingly subjected Himself to the pain of rejection so that a relationship with us would be possible. He gave us the right to say no to Him.

I still don’t have an answer to unanswered prayer. I know one thing. The pain in my life drives me closer to God. I know a second thing. God chose to experience pain Himself to be close to me. That is enough. 

When God Says No – Part 1

I think unanswered prayer troubles all of us. After listening to a sermon this morning, I realized the beauty of the fact that God first said no to Himself.

Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights. Then Satan tempted Him, saying, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Jesus said, “No.” Why? 

Ravi Zacharias explained:

 “The marvelous thing about Him was He did not want to draw people by feeding some earthly appetite of theirs. Every leader sooner or later finds out that self-centered appetites are insatiable.  You can never satisfy the one who wants more and more and more bread and the things of this world.”

Jesus knew if He displayed His miraculous ability to create food, people would follow Him for the food and not for the Word of God. So He chose not to make bread, even for Himself.

He made a different choice in John 6:1-13. Jesus had compassion on the people who were hungry and fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fish. Sure enough, they immediately wanted to make Him king.

The next day they searched for Him. They wanted more food.

“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him’” (John 6:26-27 NKJV).

If God always gives me what I want, He becomes a cosmic vending machine. Insert prayer; get candy, chips, or trail mix. Sometimes a hunger that causes me to seek God is better than a full stomach that enables me to go my own way.

Jesus refused to turn stones into bread to satisfy His own hunger because He knew it would get in the way of God the Father’s greater purpose. Can I complain when He says no to me?

How My Metronome Got Its Name

My poor metronome went many years without a name. But one day my teacher wrote JIM on my music. “Join In Motion.” You cannot start a solo successfully until you feel the music going already. Listen to the music of the spheres. Join in motion. You will succeed.

I realized this is also the answer to my students’ metronome problems. They turn on the metronome, jump in with their solo and wonder why they can’t stay with that nasty ticking device.

Listen to it. Think the beat. When you have internalized the tempo, you may join in motion.

This is also true in life. We cannot change our actions until we change the way we think. When my thoughts correspond to reality, my life becomes beautiful music.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2