millie is becoming quite musical. maxx is teaching her some songs on the piano. and then there is her steel drums class to help her channel her inner musician...
music has always been “maxx’s thing” in her mind. i think because he LOVES to sing. and sings quite well. incredibly well for the genetic product of his father and myself. like miraculously well.
but for the past few days she has been working on a new song on the piano. on her own. it sounded so pretty and she was working so hard on it. over and over. and i asked her what song it was. she said that it was one she was making up. she said that she hears it in her head and then she tried to match it on the piano.
and in my mind i thought “i totally understand that”.
because i hear this wonderful song of parenting, of marriage, of being a neighbor, a sister, a friend, a daughter, a child of the Most High King. i hear it as i recite the myriad of Scriptures that i have memorized about being one who LOVES God and LOVES others. i hear this song, this beautiful song that God sings over me every time i open His Word and read about Who He is and i want to love in some small small way the way He loves. i read these words and i know that this is THE ONE song i want to play with my short trivial life....
(from 1 corinthians 13 in the message)
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
and i try to play this song of love. trying note after note. and coming up flat, sharp, or in a whole different octave. and trying to play it note by note, day by day. as it is revealed to me in Scripture. where He tells me who He is and how much He loves.
so i patted Millie on the back and said, “keep practicing. it sounds beautiful. and the more you practice the more it will come.”
and i thought that i heard God say the same thing to me... “keep practicing. it is beautiful. and the more you practice the more it will come.”
love isn’t love unless you KEEP loving. keep practicing. keep listening to His song. and mimic it with my life. until i get it perfect. which will be on the day when i finally see His face, the face of complete Love...
We don't yet see things clearly.
We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.
But it won't be long before
the weather clears and the sun shines bright!
We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:
Trust steadily in God,
hope unswervingly,
love extravagantly.
And the best of the three is love.