Category: Living fully

  • Around this time of year, as we look at our To Do lists, I expect some of us long for a "shot of Christmas," to get us energized.

    I don't have a magic potion, but this YouTube should do the trick. You may have seen it, but if you take time once again, I promise you'll find yourself smiling by the end. 

    Are you smiling?

    Some of us have been hearing or singing Handel's Messiah for years, especially Hallelujah. Not so many know the story of how Handel came to write this glorious music.

    Picture the scene. It is the summer of 1741, in a small house in London. Discouraged and miserably in debt, 56 year-old George Fredric Handel considered himself something of a failure. Not long before he had given what he thought of as his farewell concert. Then a friend passed on a libretto based on the life of Christ. Its writer hoped someone could write music to go with his script, all of it quoted from The King James Bible. 

    Handel, a strong believer in Christ, read it through and was deeply moved. So on August 22nd, he set to work composing. After that no one saw him except the servant who faithfully brought him food, then every day removed the untouched tray.

    One day the servant opened the door to find his employer with tears streaming down his face. Handel said, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself."

    GeorBlog. Handel. 12.10 -thumb-400x501-9945ge Frederic Handel uttered those words just after completing the movement that ever after has been known around the world as the Hallelujah Chorus.

    He wrote the entire work in an amazing 24 days. In that short span of time Handel not only personally inked each note of the four-part vocal score, but also the music and every instrumental part for the orchestra. (If you've sung the Messiah, you know just the choral arrangement plus piano accompaniment runs to more than 250 pages.) Whether we call it genius or divine inspiration, for more than two centuries this piece of music has been performed all over the world.

    Handel died April 14, 1759, eight days after his final performance where he conducted his mansterpiece, Messiah. If you visit Westminster Abbey in London, look for his statue. He's shown holding the manuscript for the solo that opens part three of Messiah, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."

    It seems to me we can draw some lessons for ourselves. At the time, Handel would have been considered elderly and people around him considered him finished. So did he. It seems he never said, "Well, I can't do that because . . ." Maybe we, too, need to set aside our labels and our familiar thinking and step out in faith. Otherwise, who knows? We might miss out on doing something great.

    As for getting in the mood for Christmas, I know what I need to do. I need to take my eyes off how much I have to do and focus on what Christmas really means. The Joy-Giver is just as capable of giving meaning and joy to our work as He was back in Handel's time. Sure, our "tune" may be small, but the world around us needs to hear it. So let's smile and give thanks, then go for it!

    Comments?

    Here's to letting our JOY show in this most wonderful time of the year,

    Lenore

     

    Need an injection of Christmas spirit? Find it here . . .

  • I met the most amazing woman the other day. She unexpectedly dropped into my Email inbox and once she told her story, I couldn't forget it.

    I think it's safe to say you won't forget her, either. For one thing, how often do you meet an individual who is age 106 and still plays Scrabble? Yes, you read that correctly. Alice Herz-Sommer is age 106. In fact, she turns 107 this month.

    She is . . .  But why not let Alice tell her story in her own words? I encourage you to settle back in your chair and prepare to be entranced. If at the beginning you find her accent difficult, hang in there. After a few seconds you won't notice it. Now just click on the arrow and float away.



    For all of us, sometimes life, with its obstacles and challenges and disappointments, seems discouraging, even overwhelming. From now on I'll only have to think of Alice to realize how blessed I've been–and still am.

    Although Alice's story is unique, I think she has a message for all of us, for all time: Life is beautiful! 

    Those three words apply, no matter what's going on in our lives. Let's have the good sense to really understand this now. It's as the Psalmist said, centuries ago:

    This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. –-Psalm 118:24

    Here's to "living it up" and making the most of every day,

    Lenore

    Question for you: How did Alice's story touch you?

    (Late addtion: My apologies, but the (better) YouTube clip I originally included was suddenly "withdrawn by the user," whatever that means. It seems to be inaccessible from any site. So I'm including a new link here, from The Guardian in London. This one is not as long, but you can hear Alice speaking and also playing her piano. Onceit ends you'll notice other YouTube video thumbnails are shown, such as a two-part BBC TV interview. You can read Alice's story in print at  http://nickreedent.com/   which is the website of the maker of the soon-to-be-released documentary about Alice Herz-Sommer.

    Of music and hope and seeing the beauty in life . . . no matter what

  • Maybe that sounds silly, but I'm guessing we all do it. 

    How often do we fall into bed exhausted, wondering where the day went? It's as if we went through the past 24 hours on autopilot. We flip over a new calendar page and try to remember what we did during the thirty days now past.Blog. Thoughtful woman. 8.10 lisamcminn 

    Someone said it well, "Life is not a dress rehearsal."

    Each of us gets only one take on today.

    Even though we're breathing in and out, we can be oblivious, completely wrapped up in our thoughts, tied up on the computer or watching television.

    I plead guilty. How about you?

    Or we tune out the people in our lives. Parents scold teenagers because they can be in the same room but text each other rather than talking. Grownups do the same thing, but we don't use a keyboard. We simply switch off our minds and look past each other. 

    Even in marriage we can run on parallel tracks, each of us concentrating on what interests us, blind to each other's concerns. That can feel achingly lonely, as if we simply wave at each other as we pass in the hall.

    Then there's multitasking. Busy people assume we can multitask and get more done. Researchers tell us that because we're not focused we accomplish less. Our brains bop back and forth between tasks, never giving full attention to either one. That leads to mindless errors for, but . . . let's not talk about that. 

    So what's the answer?

    For me, once again I'm reminding myself that this day is the one I'm living

    To be precise, I only live this one minute, then the next. Apparently, I like the way Psalm 90:12 reads in the New Living Translation:

    Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.

    Life is too precious to miss! So once again I recommit to paying attention and making the most of my time.

    Maybe this time I won't forget.

    Here's to being present while we're present,

    Lenore

    Question for you: Do you struggle with this? Or have you overcome it? Then tell us how! Just click on the word, "Comments," at the end and follow directions.

     

     

    Let’s not go A.W.O.L. from our lives