It never ceases to amaze me how powerful music is.
It may be the words - words are powerful, or it may be the melody, the kind that stays with you and which you keep humming all day long.
What I love though is when the words, the melody, the beat just kind of get you so much that it stirs your soul and your spirit. However, sometimes hearing the first few bars of a song can either put you in a happy place or take you to a memory which is so sad.
Sometimes it feels like every season of my life has it's own theme song. Putting on a playlist or mix-CD (from back in the day) is like opening a memory box and looking at the objects and thinking back to why they make you feel or remembering things that happened.
Some of the special theme songs in my life are special because of the season I was in at the time and the memories that are connected to them.
When I first became a Christian, I totally didn't "get" Christian music but there was and still is one song that touched my heart so deeply which perfectly summed up the season I started then and that song is MORE OF YOU To me this song has just never got old and listening to it still makes my heart soar. I still thirst for God, I still want more of God, I still love God, really love God and only in Him am I complete.
When I got married, I had this song played in the church before I walked in to John Denver's ANNIE's SONG. As long as I live Annie's song will always remind me of one of the happiest days of my life but it also reminds me of my precious Oma because I remember hearing her listen to a John Denver Greatest Hits album when I was small. So many happy, beautiful memories.
But then 9 months after the wedding, my first child was born. He was a beautiful little boy but he wasn't to be on this earth and he went straight to his Maker. As part of my healing process, I listened to a lot of my favourite songs from throughout my pregnancy and journalled and just tried to get a handle on the grief that threatened to overwhelm me.
I listened to some of the worship songs that I'd sung during the pregnancy and some which had a special resonance in the horrific aftermath. I made a mix CD of them which I called Songs for Baby Gulp. The CD included, amongst others:
- My Heart Is Yours by Grant Pankratz
- Held by Natalie Grant
- Safe Within Your Arms by Lara Martin and Mark Stevens
- Home by Michael Buble
Every time I hear Home, I still feel such a sense of missing my little baby and imagining what kind of young man he would be now had he lived. It's not often I listen to the CD but when I do, the pain bubbles just below the surface but also the healing too.
Each one of my 3 children has their own special song which we sing over them, changing some of the lyrics to include their names.
So Lara's song is Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You by John Barrowman, Sophie's song is You Baby by the Mama's and the Papa's and Rebecca's is Hall of Fame by Will.i.am and The Script
My children adore music and have made their own favourite playlists including songs like Happy by Pharrell and several other movie soundtracks.
They're also really in to The Rend Collective.
One thing I've noticed about each one of my children is that they just love happy music.Music that you listen to which makes you smile and want to sing along and dance. It's so much fun singing along with the children.
The current season I'm in is one of utter joy. I'd say that the theme song of the first 6 months of 2017 was definitely BURNING ONES by Jesus Culture and the theme song for the current season is SET ME ABLAZE by Jesus Culture and I'm praying as the lyrics say that I'll keep burning with an endless passion.
MrsGulp
Thursday 10 August 2017
Friday 4 August 2017
When My Time Is Done
So, I've just been sat in a meeting and something that someone said in that meeting made me think about when my time is done here on this earth, what kind of legacy do I want to leave behind.
That's the kind of question that requires a fair bit of thinking about but my initial gut reaction is as follows:
Do I want to build a great company that employs many people and builds something for generations to make their livelihoods from, like Sir Titus Salt?
Do I want to be an educational innovator like Margaret McMillan who was passionate about children's health and education?
Do I want to be a great leader who comes up with solutions to the problems facing our world; people like Bill Gates leading the Bill & Mellissa Gates Foundation seeking to address the causes of a range of issues and eradicating polio and malaria?
Do I want to lead a charity that relieves people of the burden of debt and introduces them to their Saviour like Matt Barlow, CEO of Christians Against Poverty?
Do I want to lead the country, navigating it through a difficult time to a place of economic prosperity where all people feel the benefits?
(I'm not going to name a person for this one because it would colour the perspective depending on the political party and opinions about whoever I named.)
Do I want to be a well known worldwide evangelist like Smith Wigglesworth or a superb faith healer inspiring a movement such as the Healing Rooms like John G Lake ?
You may not know who some of these people are and for that matter you may not even care but I think if I distill everything down all I really want to do is:
leave the world in a healthier place;
raise children who have lofty ideals and have massive vision for this world and their place in it;
work as hard as I can to get everything out of me while I am alive so that I don't die with untapped potential;
to share as much as I can with others so that individuals are able to work hard and provide for their families for generations to come.
I don't need to be recognised or remembered, no monuments built or earthly honours or anything like that but I do want to leave the world in a far better place than it currently is, so that I know people are going to live happier, healthier lives and know their true identities and be confident to achieve all that they can.
Just like Bill Gates who wants to eradicate polio and malaria and address poverty, I want to see the eradication of lack. I want to see an end to economic and spiritual poverty. I want to see an end to disease and an increase in better health outcomes and a closing of the gap between rich and poor. I want young and old, and different races and cultures to work well and live well together in harmony. I want to see an end to bitterness and disappoint and pain and loss. I want to see the acceptance that everyone is unique and therefore everyone is accepted and respected. I want to see health and wholeness.
I want a lot and forgive my idealism but like Bill Gates if you focus on some ideals you may just achieve them!
I don't need to be like anyone else in particular but I do need to be myself and live out my reason for being, to the very best of my God given ability, knowing that I lived a life well so that if anyone knows me they can be inspired to live their lives well also and know that it's their turn, when my time is done.
That's the kind of question that requires a fair bit of thinking about but my initial gut reaction is as follows:
Do I want to build a great company that employs many people and builds something for generations to make their livelihoods from, like Sir Titus Salt?
Do I want to be an educational innovator like Margaret McMillan who was passionate about children's health and education?
Do I want to be a great leader who comes up with solutions to the problems facing our world; people like Bill Gates leading the Bill & Mellissa Gates Foundation seeking to address the causes of a range of issues and eradicating polio and malaria?
Do I want to lead a charity that relieves people of the burden of debt and introduces them to their Saviour like Matt Barlow, CEO of Christians Against Poverty?
Do I want to lead the country, navigating it through a difficult time to a place of economic prosperity where all people feel the benefits?
(I'm not going to name a person for this one because it would colour the perspective depending on the political party and opinions about whoever I named.)
Do I want to be a well known worldwide evangelist like Smith Wigglesworth or a superb faith healer inspiring a movement such as the Healing Rooms like John G Lake ?
You may not know who some of these people are and for that matter you may not even care but I think if I distill everything down all I really want to do is:
leave the world in a healthier place;
raise children who have lofty ideals and have massive vision for this world and their place in it;
work as hard as I can to get everything out of me while I am alive so that I don't die with untapped potential;
to share as much as I can with others so that individuals are able to work hard and provide for their families for generations to come.
I don't need to be recognised or remembered, no monuments built or earthly honours or anything like that but I do want to leave the world in a far better place than it currently is, so that I know people are going to live happier, healthier lives and know their true identities and be confident to achieve all that they can.
Just like Bill Gates who wants to eradicate polio and malaria and address poverty, I want to see the eradication of lack. I want to see an end to economic and spiritual poverty. I want to see an end to disease and an increase in better health outcomes and a closing of the gap between rich and poor. I want young and old, and different races and cultures to work well and live well together in harmony. I want to see an end to bitterness and disappoint and pain and loss. I want to see the acceptance that everyone is unique and therefore everyone is accepted and respected. I want to see health and wholeness.
I want a lot and forgive my idealism but like Bill Gates if you focus on some ideals you may just achieve them!
I don't need to be like anyone else in particular but I do need to be myself and live out my reason for being, to the very best of my God given ability, knowing that I lived a life well so that if anyone knows me they can be inspired to live their lives well also and know that it's their turn, when my time is done.
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