Piano recitals and honeysuckles

Well, it's the day after my oldest daughter's first piano recital. I can remember those days of taking piano and going to recitals. They weren't particularly as joyful for me as for Tori. She seemed at ease, though she told me she was nervous. I prayed that God would help her just to be able to sit and play for His glory.

During the recital, it was clear who had practiced and who had not. This is Tori's first year. She has been playing about 8 months and she did very well. Her pieces were "Martha" and "Amazing Grace", which she has also played here at home for the family to sing along with. She had only one moment where she paused for a second, but I was incredibly thankful for her playing. It is often that I hear parents say how proud they are. I confess that i have been trained to say the same thing, but for some time now I realize that pride, even in someone else is not the right response, but rather thankfulness to the God who has shaped them into what they are. Therefore, my boasting is in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He has formed Tori from the womb and is raising her up, I pray, to be a godly young lady who will carry on in the next generation and hopefully surpass her mother and father in knowledge and grace.

She is seen here with her music teacher, Mrs. Dixon. Mrs. Dixon has been teaching students for many years and continues to do so, I think, simply out of the joy of doing it and the love of music. Her students range in age from those about 9 or 10 up into their 30's and 40's.

One of the strange settings we had was being in a Presbyterian Church that had the stained glass windows (kind of like the paintings you see in Rome), where the gospel story is supposed to be portrayed in pictures. Also, the pulpit was adorned with one of those little "scarfs" (the name doesn't come to mind right now with the alpha & omega symbol on either side of the Labarum. Not to mention a large wooden cross adorned with a white scarf behind the pulpit and a think gold colored cross on the remembrance table. It appeared that this littel church still had some of Rome in it indeed. On top of that, the Rev. Joan was the pastor. I asked my wife, if she thought that Rev. Joan had read 1 Tim. 3 and actually was the husband of one wife:) Anyway, thankfully we didn't have to meet or hear Rev. Joan. Though ordained, I detest the title reverend. Personally, I believe that title is for God and God alone.

Today, however, after cutting the onions (that's mainly what is growing in our yard right now) and spraying the weeds (yeah, they're also growing), I caught these guys lounging up at their grandparents house, kicked back in their chairs drinking water and sucking on honeysuckles. They had gathered bucket loads of honeysuckles from the woods and were simply enjoying the incredible weather while partaking of one of simple pleasures of life and the country:)