A Little Bit of Life

This summer I've been adding tons of music to my IPOD and trying to get it organized in such a way that it is the most useful for me. I've created genre files and artist files to make my music accessible, but my favorite thing to do is to put it on shuffle, and let it mix up all my eclectic music, one bizarre song after another. Yes, I have over 300 Christmas songs alone, so I end up listening to alot of Christmas music -- even if it's August! And I have a couple of files that some people would find strange. (For instance, I have probably 30 different versions of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.) I have bagpipes, classical, ocean surf, and children's pirate tunes humming alongside Elvis, a huge country file, tropical music, oldies, bluegrass, and John Denver. I have 3 different religious files -- A capella christian, General christian (mix of contemporary, southern gospel, black gospel, whatever else I have. . . ), and bluegrass gospel that has many of the old hymns. I love it when they mix, because it "sounds like life to me". Everything about our lives is so segmented. We do "church" things at "church" (and nowhere else). We do "school" things at school; we do Christmas only at Christmas (as if Jesus weren't important except at Christmas --oh, yes, and Easter); dance music is relegated to the "dance halls", and we pull out our country/pop/rock/contemporary stuff when we're with our friends. But regardless of how society seeks to segment our life, it all belongs to God who gave it. He gave us the joy of the dance, the heart of contemporary Christian, the reason for the Christmas gifts, the lack of fear at Halloween because He conquered death;He gave the variety of cultures the world over with their wondrous diversity. He blessed Elvis with his incredible voice, and The Platters with their amazing harmony. There are lessons to be learned amidst it all, because God is in the middle of it. And as I think about it with my music, maybe I should think more about it with my life. Maybe, as Todd Agnew so adeptly put it, we need, "a little more You in the middle of me!" A little (lot) more God in the middle of our daily lives instead of making Him wait until Sunday. A little more Christian music mixed in throughout the week to encourage us to walk the walk every day. A little more Bible in our daily reading material. He's there -- beside you right now. Whatever music you're listening to, He's hearing it. Whatever movie you're watching, he's hanging out on the sofa, too. Let Him into the daily grind. Live out loud. Be salt. Be light. Jesus bids us shine. He bids us to turn up the music. Turn it up loud. . . .but make sure He's in the mix.

Moonrise. . . .Sunrise

From the East, a glowing sphere rose
From the darkness of the night to kiss
The water below.

The barely waning moon
held captive the dark waves as we walked along
the sand, holding hands -- laughing, chatting,
Being together. Looking out, it
Appeared the moon painted the fingernails
Of the ocean, and now it crept forward
With provocative playfulness, tickling the
Sand with silver-tinged tips. Night
played peek-a-boo with light as shadows
Danced on the sparkling strand, punctuated
By occasional fireworks up and down the beach.

The man in the moon smiled down on lovers and families
As he lit their way and moved across the sky.

As he neared the West, the light appeared again
In the East, a gray light with shades of pink
That darkened the waves into an angry froth
and began the battle for the sky. Soon
a neon sphere emerged from the horizon,
Announcing its arrival with hues of lavenders,
Pinks, and reds, releasing daylight to cover
Our world with light and heat and sunshine.

All Night Long

Last night I fulfilled a promise. Sometimes my husband gets glimpses of someone I used to be (a very long time ago. . . .) and wonders what happened to that Tonnye. A case in point most recently was when he discovered I had spent a whole night walking on the beach with a guy friend when I was 20ish. He felt left out, and whined a little. . . it wasn't jealousy, per se. It was just something he would LOVE to do with me, too. So I promised. Last night after a mini-shopping excursion, we had pizza at Giorgio's @ North Myrtle, and then settled in for our all-night vigil on the beach. We took beach towels and a cooler, and began walking. We found a place to settle our things, lay down for a while and looked out at the ocean and up at the moon, which was really beautiful, just on the waning side of full, so it provided much light. We hung out in our spot or walked from about 8:30 - 11ish. We were right at Ocean Drive Pavilion, so we went in to use the restroom. There were a few shaggers on the floor, so we sat and watched -- even joined them in a couple of dances (My FHU friends can read that as choreography if you need to ;~) We enjoyed the music and the breeze, and saw some new steps we really need to try. Around 12:30, we headed back out to the beach -- walked, talked, and enjoyed God's incredible majesty -- laid on our towels and chatted, watched fireworks, and watched the condo lights go out 1 by 1. Around 2 we decided to leave for a bit -- the pavilion had closed up, and we needed a restroom and a break, so we hit Denny's -- had Grand Slams in the middle of the night, talked about wishes and dreams, and then headed back to the beach to watch the sun rise. Eventually it did, and it was quite lovely. Shane watches sunrise on the beach quite often, but not being such a morning person, it's more rare for me ;~). It was a special treat. We were collecting seashells as the sun came up and the tide came in. I didn't get to see any dolphins, which was perhaps my only disappointment. . . .We left the beach at 7:00 this morning, having had a really wonderful relaxing night with nowhere we had to go and a committment to enjoy it to its fullest. I must confess that as soon as I was in the car, however, I was out like a light. When we got home, I stumbled in long enough to get to the bed, and slept until time for church. I defer to my husband's youthful exuberance -- not even a nap for him -- until about 4:00, when he crashed and is still asleep. It was a good idea, a good promise to keep, and a good night -- all night long!