July 4th Journey

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Sarah

It was July 4, 1996. My brother, John, and sister, Becca, had chosen to spend the 4th of July holiday in Buena Vista with my grandparents. I had decided to stay home with my parents. My baby brother Stephen was yet to arrive in October, so I had a brief “only child” experience. Because of my love for music, my dad had taken the time to plan a 4th of July filled with music. We first went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. All I really remember is that it was extremely hot, so my dad brought me some ice-cold water in a plastic cup. I still have that cup – a musical staff swirled around with bright red cherries for music notes.

That evening my dad told me that we were going to a live orchestra concert in a Thornton parking lot with fireworks afterward. The Longmont Symphony. It was the first time I had heard of this orchestra, and I had no idea how precious it would become to me. I had only been playing violin for two years, and I was enthralled by the symphony. At 10 years old, I soaked up every note they played. At one point in the concert, they invited the kids up to conduct the orchestra. I bravely walked forward and got to stand on the podium and wave the baton while they played “Stars and Stripes Forever.” When it got dark, the fireworks show began. It was amazing. The fireworks were synchronized to the “1812 Overture” and other patriotic pieces played by the symphony. It was then that I decided that someday I was going to play with the Longmont Symphony.

The next year, we had to return to 4th of July concert in Thornton so that John, Becca, and now Stephen could also experience the greatness of the music and fireworks. We returned again and again, year after year, always bringing with us new family and friends. Eventually, the event got so big, they moved it to a large park in Thornton. When asked, I always said the 4th of July was my favorite holiday – but I’m 99% sure it was because it was the one day of the year I knew I would get to go to a symphony orchestra concert.

We gradually stopped attending the concert as we got busy with high school and college things. I played violin with UNC’s symphony and graduated with a minor in music and a major in elementary education. My life became saturated with my teaching job, but I still played violin occasionally at church. After my 3rd year of teaching, I started making a bucket list. I was home with my family on July 4, 2011. We hadn’t made any plans yet for fireworks. After tossing around a few ideas, my dad said, “We could go see the Longmont Symphony concert again.” Instantly, my mind jumped to my bucket list. Number 26 read, “consistently play in a symphony orchestra again.” For some reason, I had completely forgotten about the Longmont Symphony, but suddenly my mind was racing – I teach in Platteville, which is just east of Longmont…

We did go to the Longmont Symphony concert again, and I enjoyed it just as much as when I was 10 years old. The very next day, I e-mailed for information about auditions. I received the music and auditioned at the end of August. I was thrilled to make it in as a 2nd violinist. However, it wasn’t until July 4th, 2012, as I sat on stage to play with the orchestra, that I realized I had finally accomplished the dream I’d had as a 10-year-old. Once again, I soaked in every note – but this time as a violinist in the Longmont Symphony Orchestra.

Just this week I learned that last year’s July 4th concert was the last one the Longmont Symphony will perform in Thornton. It made my heart sad to hear the news. I had hoped that performing this special concert with the LSO would become a new tradition for me. Now it is to be no more. But my dream did come true. Fifteen years after I first heard of the Longmont Symphony, I have become a part of their music – not just on the 4th of July, but throughout the entire year. And it has produced even more blessings than I could have realized. I have made new friends; after performing “Catcerto” with the symphony, I decided to get a kitten, and she is a wonderful companion; practicing the music for our concerts has provided an outlet for me to unwind from work; and there is incredible joy in playing with an orchestra. My dream of playing in the Longmont Symphony on the 4th of July was only the first step.

Categories: Just Life, Music | Leave a comment

El Elyon and El Shadday

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Sarah

I spent some time studying Psalm 91 more deeply this morning. At this point, I studied verse 1 mainly and then looked for themes throughout the chapter…

Psalm 91:1 (God’s Word translation w/names) “Whoever lives under the shelter of Elyon will remain in the shadow of Shadday.”
– El Elyon is the Most High God, the highest in every realm of life. His power, mercy, and sovereignty cannot be matched. Thus, the first part of verse 1 could be read, “He who orders his life under the sovereign authority of the Most High God…”
– El Shadday is God Almighty, the All-Sufficient One. Nothing is impossible for Him. In Hebrew Shadday literally means “the mountain One.” He is faithful, He is unchanging. But there is also a nurturing side because the word Shadday also means “breast,” which indicates a God who protects and nurtures like a mother does. Isn’t it crazy that the second half of the verse says, “will remain in the SHADOW of the Almighty”? Mountains cast a large shadow, and mountains never move. Within this “shadow” is the loving care of our faithful God. He is mighty, but He is gentle.

Verse 4 begins with the nurturing care of El Shadday but ends with His power as a mountain One: “He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness and truth are your shield and armor.”

Verses 9-12 connect more with El Elyon: “You have made Elyon your home. No harm will come to you. No sickness will come near your house. He will put His angels in charge over you to protect you in all your ways. They will carry you in their hands so that you never hit your foot against a rock.”
– Again, El Elyon is to be our HOME, the place where we dwell – under the protection and shelter of His powerful sovereignty.
– And He puts His angels in charge of us. As the Most High being in every realm of life, the angels are under His sovereign authority.

Categories: Character of God, Spiritual Growth | Leave a comment

One Note at a Time

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Sarah

My violin student stood poised and ready to play. The metronome ticked its pulse and I counted off for the song to begin. The soft melody of “Autumn Leaves Are Falling” floated from the half size violin. “Nice job!” I exclaimed. Since we need to get the song faster before the 1st grade program in 2 weeks, I increased the metronome marking to 60. “Ok, it’s going to be a little bit faster now,” I said.

Immediately, my student’s eyes grew large. Her entire body stiffened as she prepared herself to play. I counted off, and again the melody came out of the instrument. This time, however, I heard autumn leaves crunching and jerking sporadically. As soon as the song ended, I explained to my student what had happened. Because she knew we were going faster, she freaked out, and the result was a mess.

“We’re going to play it at 60 again,” I explained. “But first, take a deep breath.” She breathed in and then exhaled. “Ok, now relax your body. You can do this! You know the song, your fingers know the song. It doesn’t matter that it’s faster. Just stay relaxed and play it like you know.” This time, I counted off, and the autumn leaves fell and swooped gracefully. “You did it!” I congratulated. All it took was getting her to take a deep breath and play the song one note at a time, regardless of the speed.

Lately, my life has been stressfully driven by my to-do list. Every day I feel constrained by time and frustrated when the day ends without giving me a chance to relax. Reflecting on my student’s lesson yesterday, I’m realizing that I need to tell myself what I told her yesterday. Take a deep breath and relax. The Lord is preparing me for each part of today, and I can do it because the Lord is my Strength. When I think about the day or week as a whole, my eyes grow big and my body tenses. As a result, the week is characterized by tight muscles and anxiety. Jesus is Lord of today, and no matter how fast the tempo, He is with me. My job is to rest in Him and serve Him in peace – one note at a time.

Categories: Just Life, Music | Leave a comment

Acute Pharyngitis

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Sarah

Well, here I am at home on the 2nd day back to school after Christmas break. I started getting a sore throat and some achiness a week and a half ago. It wasn’t constant, so I wasn’t alarmed…until yesterday. When I woke up, my throat felt worse again. I made it through the day at school, though it was tough at times. First day back, and the kids were haywire and distracted. Upon getting home, I was exhausted, my body ached, and my throat was killing me. After some consultation with my mom, I headed out to urgent care before even eating dinner.

I didn’t even get in to see the doctor till 7:30 or so! The strep test came back negative, but the doctor was concerned because my throat “looked like raw hamburger” and my lymph nodes were swollen. And the fact that I’d had a sore throat for 10 days was concerning. I have felt achy and exhausted off and on too, but never had a fever and the soreness was bearable, so I thought I was ok. Apparently, I have another kind of infection – the doctor didn’t even have a name for it, but he said there are lots of bacteria that can cause stuff like this. So he sent me on my way to get antibiotics – with a diagnosis of “acute pharyngitis.”

But since it was an urgent care center, I had to bring the prescription in myself and had to wait at Walgreens for it. I felt so weak and was starving! It was nearly 9:00. I ended up buying a protein bar and asked if I could eat it in the store while I waited (I briefly explained the situation). The guy at the register was funny. He said, “Oh, of course! In fact, you could eat an entire meal in here if you wanted to as long as you’ve paid for it!!” Haha

I finally got my medicine at 9:15 and headed home to eat dinner and take it. Being so late, I felt even more miserable. I’m such a perfectionist and felt like I couldn’t miss school today. But I talked to my sister on the phone, and she convinced me that I need the day off and how to make my lesson plans work for a sub. Finished the plans at 11:00 pm with my trusty helper. ;-)

Antibiotics are amazing when you need them! Though I still feel tired, my throat is almost back to 100% normal! I am thankful for urgent care that is open till 8 pm, antibiotics, friends and family that helped me make decisions, and sick days (even though sub plans are a huge pain). :)

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Oh, Magnify the Lord with Me

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Sarah

Is God big enough?

2013. A new year has begun. I’m at a point in life where I feel that my problems are overwhelming my joy. My weakness is overtaking my strength.

Is God big enough?

During the Christmas season I was reminded of Mary’s words when she was presented with the overwhelming task of mothering the Son of God: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” (Luke 1:46-47)

Is God big enough?

Our human minds cannot grasp the size or power of Elohim. As a result, we minimize Him into our lives so that He seems more understandable. But when we are the center of our own universe, the trials we face have the power to loom over our heads and threaten to overtake us.

I am being challenged, instead, to magnify God to His rightful position and power, to make Him large in my life, even though everything does not necessarily make sense. When God is magnified in my life, my problems are not as overwhelming. Instead, I see that they are controlled by the loving hands of Elohim, the Creator of the universe, for His glory and my good.

Psalm 34:3 “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!”

Categories: Character of God, Spiritual Growth | Leave a comment

Celebrate

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Sarah

I love dark chocolate. (Lily loves the wrapper!) Sometimes it’s a sweet spot on a dark day. Today’s message read: The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. Though the quote is not entirely biblical in the way it’s worded, it reminded me of a lesson the Lord has been teaching me. Philippians 4:4 teaches to “Rejoice in the LORD always; again I will say, Rejoice!”

It has been a rough month for me. As well as beginning a crazy year teaching 4 days a week instead of 5, I’ve been dealing with digestive issues. We seem to have identified the problem as lactose intolerance – and removing dairy has helped tremendously! However, cooking has been an added consumer of my time, as I am shopping for new foods and trying new recipes, and anxiety has threatened to overtake me.

At school, the students have had swimming lessons at the high school for 2 weeks, which has caused chaos in my classroom every afternoon. Because the swimming time cut into our lunch, the students have not had their lunch recess for 2 weeks, and I have had a teacher sub for me for 20 minutes before lunch every day (so that I still get my full lunch), which has been difficult when I’m still trying to teach something. We have also had 2 professional development meetings, which has taken me out of the classroom for several days (in addition to a day I had to miss for a doctor appointment). I always feel like I’m having to catch up.

It’s been very easy to complain. It’s not easy to rejoice when the craziness of life sweeps us up and whirls us around so that we never feel like we can grasp any normalcy. But just like my dark chocolate wrapper stated, the more we praise [the LORD] and celebrate, the more there will be to celebrate. When we begin to look for the blessings, we will see that they are very much a part of the whirlwind of craziness. In fact, it’s as if the whirlwind itself is an ocean of blessings encompassing us.

Every situation in life is controlled by our God, and He always has a purpose. When I look back on the past month of my life, I see how the LORD has worked through my physical/emotional weaknesses to connect me with so many people.

1) Many friends have been able to encourage me, and I feel that I have a network of weekly–even daily–accountability and support.

2) One of my students is lactose intolerant, and I was able to relate with him on the first day of school.

3) I joined a new Bible study through my church because I realized I was falling apart with this struggle and needed a group of supportive Christians in my life weekly.

4) My new friends from Bible study actually recommended a Christian doctor to me, who is now my doctor.

5) A parent of one of my students has celiac disease (gluten allergy), which is one test the doctor ran on me, so I actually understood and knew what it was in conversation.

6) I received a prayer request through my church’s prayer chain saying that a teacher at Jackson Elementary was just diagnosed with cancer but is choosing to continue teaching through the treatment process. Since I dealt with teaching while feeling sick and doctor visits and tests, I understand (on a VERY small scale) how this teacher must feel.

7) Many teachers and staff at my school have been concerned for me and have been supportive in checking in to see how I’m doing.

8 ) The professional development trainings have been extremely helpful and have taken a huge load off my unit and lesson planning.

9) Even though it was a hassle to go to lunch early and miss 20 minutes of teaching time every day, I enjoyed eating lunch with a different group of teachers for a change. I was able to share with them my journey of trying new recipes and hear about what’s going on in their lives.

As a result of my struggles over the past month, I feel more connected personally with people in almost every aspect of my life. Never underestimate the power and purpose of our God. He works all things for good.

Categories: Perspective, Spiritual Growth, Teaching | Leave a comment

She’s growing up!

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Sarah

June 23 – August 8

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