Thought

Random Thought Friday

Melodies of LightLeave a comment

Maybe the last Friday of the month will be random thought Friday. We’ll see. For today, let’s see where this goes…

On my heart: “God meant it for good.” This is in Genesis (the Bible) where it talks about Joseph who was sold into Egypt. All the challenges Joseph went through were difficult for him, but the summary of the story in some ways is that one line- God meant it for good. All the bad stuff? It was leading to all the good stuff. Suddenly the entire land is in famine and he is in a position to help his family and many, many others. He was able to experience SO. MUCH. GOOD. – not despite the bad things he experienced, but because they led him to the good things. Fascinating. Is there something in your life that’s been really hard? Is it possible that “God meant it for good” in your life? My experience tells me if it’s true for Joseph and I, it must be true for you too.

On my counter: 6 zucchini and many cups of rhubarb. My garden is still giving and I’m loving it! Tomorrow I’ll be canning strawberry rhubarb jam (YUM!!). I’ve already frozen many bags of garden tomatoes, zucchini, etc, and done one batch of salsa. I think after the jam I’m going to make some fruit leather and maybe some applesauce! What fun!

On my playlist: 2 songs have been on my mind this week. One is a song that (I forgot) my mom introduced me to the month that I got engaged. It really was a turning point for me in deciding to marry my sweetheart. It had the sweetest message, talking about how I will be there for you in whatever situation, emotion, or struggle you may be in over the years- I want to be that person for you. My Mom recently reminded me of my experience hearing it for the first time and I thought it would be fun to share here!

Also, I have been listening to a Nichole Nordeman song (sung by Nathan Pacheco) that has been instrumental in helping me process a child leaving home. What a weird experience this has been. I am so SO proud of my oldest spreading his wings and doing wonderful things in the world. There’s nowhere else I’d rather him be right now. The joy and excitement I feel from his successful launch and wonderful experiences so far are incredible and sweet. Also, there are moments that it feels like the more independent he becomes, that my heart is gradually ripping out of it’s place. Can your heart bleed from emotion? It sure feels like it sometimes. It hurts. I find myself glowing in his growth and having a hard time shutting up when someone asks about him (I have to tell you all the great stories and brag on him endlessly!). I also have been grieving – waves of emotion well up from so deep inside of me that it can feel like I’m about to throw up. The feelings overflow into tears, or sometimes make me feel jittery or like I need to curl up in a ball. It’s hard to find words to express what I feel and I find myself reaching for something to help me feel better. Sometimes that’s music. Sometimes it’s a hug or someone to cry with. Sometimes it’s chocolate. Lots of chocolate :). I’m grateful for many good friends and a wonderful family that have been a huge support as well as a place to brag anytime I want to. Overall? I’m functioning just fine (don’t worry, I don’t spend most of my time curled up on my living room floor crying…) but the waves of emotion are as challenging as the highs are wonderful. I’ve been told that’s how it goes with your first leaving home. And I’m sure I’ll survive. For now this song has been helpful in processing the feelings. And if you ask about my boy you’ll probable get an earful. He’s doing wonderfully, and we are so proud of him.

On (in) my view: This sunrise was breathtaking this week. A little hug from heaven on my morning run. It filled my heart.

Okay that’s all for today, folks!

Happy weekend!

Love,

Laura

Thought · Uncategorized

Spiritual Growth

Melodies of LightLeave a comment
Here’s my view of September!

It’s been a week already?! Wow, time is flying. September is well on its way and here I am for another Friday post.

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about spiritual growth. How can we tell we (or someone we love) are growing spiritually? And if we want to grow more, what does that look like? In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we just went through an adjustment to our meeting schedule. We have 1 hour where the entire congregation meets together, and then instead of 1 meeting that alternates every other week (either Sunday School with all adults together, or split into classes for men and classes for women), we have 2 meetings so that each week we meet for Sunday School for 25 minutes and then in our classes for another 25 minutes. The meetings go quick and we are out of there before we know it.

With less time for any particular lesson or topic, I’ve been thinking a lot about conversion-(that state where our heart is progressively becoming more like Jesus Christ and turning toward Him). How can I use this meeting schedule change to deepen my conversion to Jesus Christ?

Our Sunday School President (shout-out to Sister Loftis!) prepared a beautiful bookmark recently helps us use the time during the week to do work on our conversion to Jesus Christ and prepare ourselves for our next set of instruction/discussions on Sunday. She wrote this:

Prepare your heart before Sunday

As you study this week’s Come, Follow Me, ask Heavenly Father to help you recognize something that will bless someone else.

What touched my heart? -an ah-ha!” moment, -a verse that stood out, -something I hadn’t noticed before

What is the Spirit teaching me? -a gospel principle I need to strengthen, -an invitation to change, -a prompting I received

What am I still pondering? -a scripture I don’t fully understand, -a question I’d love to discuss, -a connection I’m still exploring

What will I do? -one way I’ll follow the Savior this week, -one truth I’ll apply in my life, -one person I can bless

This week the Savior is inviting me to….

I found this set of thoughts SO helpful, and I’ve found myself pondering how similar our personal study is to practicing the piano. I’m a piano teacher, and if the student isn’t practicing between lessons (or only one or two days), we can do very little at the lesson to progress further. Lessons become a time to oversee the practice that should have been happening before getting here! Over time that gets really boring, and the student loses interest in learning the instrument. The minimal growth takes all the fun out of it. However, if the student is practicing most days during the week, by the time the lesson rolls around, they are ready to share what they’ve learned, and they’re ready to take another step. As their teacher I can help them do that.

Spiritual growth can happen much the same way. As we spend time during the week not just reading scripture but studying, asking questions, discerning truth, noticing things we hadn’t seen last time….and then go to church ready to share what we’ve learned with others and take another step forward spiritually, our Sunday experience is that much richer and all of our studies and meetings are directly impacting this upward spiral of conversion to Jesus Christ. Studying spiritual material won’t always feel amazing or enlightening- practicing the piano is like that too. Some of it feels rather routine and monotonous. That’s how it is being human! If overall our efforts are allowing us to come away feeling something, with our hearts or minds munching on something and our desires are taking us toward connection, balance and consecration, we are growing. That light inside us is growing brighter.

I can see more clearly how to be more committed, more diligent in my efforts to study, learn, grow, and share and come closer to Jesus Christ. I’m excited about the spiritual momentum I’m feeling and the opportunity to continue to share my feelings with my family, my church family, and now you!

Love,

Laura

Thought

Gardening is kinda like writing songs!

Melodies of LightLeave a comment

Hello all you friends! You made it through a 4 day week (Labor Day)….how was it?

Today I’m thinking a lot about gardening. And song writing. And how they’re similar- at least we can draw parallels between them.

It may have had something to do with shredding 6 huge zucchini’s and preserving 100 tomatoes while listening to a creativity podcast! Our garden has been so generous this year and it has been an honest delight. In case you’ve never thought about it (or have and want to walk with my thought process!), here are some ways that they’re similar!

IDEA 1-GARDEN:

I have been going out to my garden early in the morning to discover the raspberries that have ripened overnight. What a miracle! What used to be green stalks with some leaves now are giving me big, juicy, deep red raspberries? Are you kidding me? (Are you salivating yet?!). No, ripe beautiful raspberries don’t pop up through the weeds just for funsies without any effort on my part (although I suppose that’s huckleberries for you, but I have more to say about those yummy berries another day…). They required planting in a place where they would get a lot of sunshine, and watering, and weeding, and picking them, and if there a lot of them, preserving them to enjoy for a longer period of time (or sharing them!). But as I put in effort that was possible for me to do, then these ripe berries ripened one after another and it felt like a miracle. And really it was.

IDEA1-SONGWRITING

Songwriting feels much the same to me. I go up to my songwriting space early in the morning. Some ideas have ripened overnight- and they feel easy to “pick.” Some projects need some areas addressed. Some problems I can solve, others aren’t solveable yet- at least not that I can tell. I can tell that some of the work I do, and often a lot of it, is made possible because of the preparation that has gone into developing my songwriting process and skills over several years. The berries I pick now are getting bigger, jucier, better. Not every single day, but much of the time.

IDEA2-GARDEN:

When I pick a bunch of tomatoes and put them on my counter (like I did yesterday), I have a wonderful satisfying feeling. I grew these! Wow! Don’t they look beautiful! At any moment I could slice one and put it on a salad or in a sandwich! But they don’t last forever. I can stick them in my fridge to buy me a little time. But if I don’t use them or preserve them in the next several days, mold will begin to grow. That which came from the ground will go back into the compost pile to return to the soil and nourish it for next year. A process for preserving allows the produce to benefit me and others for much longer than a week or a day.

IDEA2-SONGWRITIING

Sometimes, right before I go to sleep, a melody drifts through my mind. “Wow, that’s a neat one!” I’ll think. It’s tempting to leave it at that (on my counter, right?)….but if I fall asleep, I can almost guarantee that it will be gone by the next morning. Reluctantly, I often use my phone to light the notepad by my bed. I jot down a few notes and then go to sleep. (This is similar to buying me a few days in the fridge!). If that’s where I leave it, it has quite a short shelf life. After a few days or weeks, that chicken scratch will be hard to make sense of and it will likely end up in the garbage eventually. It requires a process to take a small idea and preserve it into a song. That takes time, dedication and effort, but what a beautiful result when it is preserved into a song that can be shared.

IDEA3-GARDEN:

Walking in my garden almost always makes me think about my Creator. I am amazed at what will grow with a little water, soil and sunshine. It’s clear that I did the thing (plant, water, weed) but I didn’t do all the things (make these things grow). It reminds me of being pregnant. Our efforts are so small compared to the development of the lungs and brain and nerves and all the things inside this little being in our belly. We did a thing, but we sure didn’t do all the things! My Creator is generous- how much He offers with comparatively little effort! My Creator is loving- I feel like he gets so much joy out of delighting us! What a kind thing for Him to do. And I feel a connection with Him as I work with him, side by side, in this experience of creation. Something is now physically present (tomatoes, zucchini, raspberries, etc) that didn’t exist before. Wow. I’m so grateful to learn from Him.

IDEA3-SONGWRITING

Writing music makes me think about my Creator. With efforts in learning chords, and lyrics and song form, something can come together and have meaning and movement that was not there before. I can do a thing- but I’m not doing all the things. Ideas come to my mind and heart that I didn’t ask for or think of all on my own. Solutions sometimes feel offered when I feel stuck, getting me to the next step. I feel nudges to try this or that, develop in a new area, or seek out new connections. With His touch, my reach is bigger than my circle of influence. Sometimes a song comes alive and can touch hearts, even change lives. As I create, I ask for assistance from my Creator. I need his help to navigate the path of creation. As I listen to both my own desires and His Guidance, I develop, play, delight and grow. With my preseved “fruit,” I share and lift and strengthen. What a gift to get to create alongside my Creator. I am so grateful for this way to learn from Him!

Now back to preserving these tomatoes….

Love,

Laura

Tell Me a Story...

Gardening

Melodies of LightLeave a comment
Photo by Tim Cooper on Unsplash

I have loved gardening the summer. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that this is the first time we have experienced a generous crop. Tomatoes are still coming in – several a day, and I just picked two massive zucchinis this morning. I even made some raspberry jam (from the 1/2 cup of raspberries that I harvested today) just for fun! (It exploded in the microwave, but that’s a story for another day!). Turns out gardening is fun when you get things to grow! Our other experiences have been much less rewarding. At our last house our soil, after many years of working to amend it, was declared “beach sand” by an expert. But here we are! And I can’t help but exclaiming at dinner “…and the green onions are from our garden, and the tomatoes are from our garden, and the green peppers….”

Every morning for the past month, I have woken up relatively early, let Toffee out of her pen (our border collie/Australian shepherd) put out her food and water, and then went straight to the garden. Each morning I found at least one ripe raspberry. Earlier in the month I found one or two. Today I picked over 10. Each day it has felt like a miracle. How did something delicious like this grow in MY garden? I have eaten more than my share of them, but oh how I have savored each one in the early morning stillness.

Recently I have been thinking about my music room the same way- coming up the stairs to discover what raspberries (ideas) are fully ripe, and which ones need a little more time to incubate. It’s such a miracle when ideas come. Where do they come from? How do I access them? In much the same way as my raspberries. For one thing, we have a Creator who designs all good things. He is the Giver of good gifts. Good, juicy raspberries. But it’s not a free gift in the sense that we can sit on the couch and eat potato chips all day and expect to have some raspberries handed to us. No, with His guidance, we prepare the ground, plant, support the plants, fertilize, water, allow the sun to shine and patiently wait. Music writing is much the same.

As I nurture my garden and my creativity, I feel a guiding hand, helping me to discover true principles and delight in my own growth experiences. I came home a few nights ago and wrote the basic outline for a song with this idea in mind. I feel led by the Master “gardener” who knows all things and is teaching me His ways. It’s called “Gardening with the Gardener” (until I change the title…). Perhaps one of these days I’ll share it.

Love,

Laura