Music is one thing that I think proves the existence of a divine creator God. Music in its shear beauty has the ability to completely reconstruct a down day, move me to tears, and convict my heart all at the same time. I am a sucker for good lyrics, and can just get sent overboard on a good melody with some meaningful truths keeping its rhythm. Music gets me through some days. Lyrics affirm and validate my emotions. Its like when I listen to good music, I start craving its source. I crave more of its sound, I want it to fill me and flow through me. And yet the music is not what I crave, but only an indicator of something greater. I want to experience music in a way that my human body prevents me from doing. I think that when we get to spend eternity with God we will get to taste, see, smell, touch, AND hear music in all of its rhythmic perfection. We will probably experience in many more ways than we can even imagine. A blissful epitome of a paradise that we cannot even imagine.
C.S. Lewis puts it nicely. "The books or the music in which we thought beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it [beauty] was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing stirred up within us. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past, the music—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."
Oh how I long for the creator of something as beautiful as music. I long to meet it's author; the musical, lyrical, genius who never runs out of words, and is limited by nothing. The echos of what my heart desires are overwhelming.
Here are some excellent vessels that the Lord uses to capture the heart of his grateful daughter...take some time this December to worship the God who created beauty in sound. All of these are what I consider good cold weather music.
1. MUMFORD AND SONS
Mumford and Sons stands as my favorite right now (although the position changes on a weekly basis). If you dont know about Mumford & Sons, please do yourself a favor and just buy their entire album entitled "Sigh No More". I would also suggest building a bonfire while you are waiting on the CD to download from iTunes. Invite your friends, have a drink, roast s'mores and listen to Mumford....watch these videos for a glimpse of their greatness:
Winter Winds
The Cave
Little Lion Man
White Blank Page
2. BROOKE FRASER
Brooke (we are on a first name basis, since I follow her on twitter) just came out with a new album this fall entitled "Flags" and it is a MUST HAVE. But you need every Brooke Fraser song ever written. Plan on getting convicted by her lyrics, and please let Brooke turn any dreary day around. Her music can put a positive spin on most any situation. My favorites are:
C.S. Lewis Song
Albertine
Something in the Water
Betty
Coachella
Faithful
3. THE AVETT BROTHERS
I am reminded of my good friend, Erin everytime that I listen to the Avetts, and they played a concert in Denver while I was in Colorado. Please listen to them with an open mind all you close-minded music lovers...start with something like "I and Love and You" and please download "The Ballad of Love and Hate" for the most brilliant lyrics. "November Blue" is one of my favorites, and end with "The Weight of Lies."
4. INGRID MICHAELSON
Sweetest voice ever, and the cutest lyrics of all! PLEASE listen to "You and I" and giggle at how fun it would be if the lyrics came true. And of course "The Winter Song" and "Morning Lullabies". All of her stuff is best recieved while drinking a hot spiced chai tea in a quaint coffee cup with low lighting. I mean, if you want to do it right....do it right. You also probably want a cozy couch and a good book. Here's a glimpse:
Maybe
5. IRON AND WINE
Another coffee shop band, and also the perfect music to cuddle to. This is more of a sleepy band, but it reminds me of December cold and getting snuggley in bed. This band gives me the same feeling as when, after a long day, I take a shower (in the winter) and get all clean, shave my legs, slip into my PJs and run and jump in the bed, shivering and immediately assuming the fetal position to get warm. Its the feeling you get when the chills start to go away and you are so thankful for your mattress, your blankets, and glorious combination of the two, providing a glimpse of warmth. Of course you have to stretch and pull the covers up right under your nose to get the full effect. This image makes me happy and I'd definitely want Iron and Wine playing in the background during the entire scenario. Here's what you need:
He Lays in the Reigns
Each Coming Night
The Trapeze Swinger
Naked As We Came
6. ALEXI MURDOCH
Ah if anyone has seen the movie "Away We Go" and recognized the epic soundtrack, its basically all Alexi. This is my favorite music to fall asleep to, preferably in a hammock under the stars. And of course a campfire, a fuzzy blanket, and some big wooly socks keping me warm. Say hello to the Alexi Murdoch serenade session:
Blue Mind
Song For You
Orange Sky
All My Days
7. RAY LAMONTAGNE
If I could only listen to one music artist for the rest of my life....I would be extremely tempted to choose Ray LaMontagne. He is a classic, and if you dont have his stuff, shame on you. Side note, his music may or may not make you girls want to date a tall scruffy boy who can sing and play guitar and wears plaid...or maybe that is only me? Regardless, I always get the urge to slow dance when his songs are playing. I think it would be a good time to do a slow motion scene, scrolling through good memories of the two of us....that is, if my life were a movie. Here's what you need:
Can I Stay
Trouble
Be Here Now
Hold You In My Arms
Hannah
8. JON FOREMAN
Newly discovered best artist ever, thanks and all credit to Kelsea Leacox. Jon Foreman stands as a musical genius in my book and I love him so much I can hardly stand it. Literally cannot get enough of this guy, and he shares my appreciation and awe for the God of the Bible. We looked up the verses in the bible that some of his songs are based off of and he just really hit the nail on the head here. PLEASE listen:
House of God Forever
Your Love is Strong
In My Arms
Southbound Train
My Love Goes Free
9. JOSHUA RADIN
Beautiful voice. Absolutely beautiful and smooth and perfect. You should go on a night drive by yourself with the windows down and turn on some Joshua Radin. Make SURE the windows are down, and if its cold put on a scarf and hat, bundle up and let the crisp winter air bite your cheeks. Listen to "Star Mile" first, and then all of these:
Closer
Winter
No Envy No Fear
"They Bring me to You" is something that I am hoping I can say (because I cant sing) to my husband one day...ah its so sweet.
10. COLDPLAY
The most classic of cold weather bands. Get the CD titled "Parachutes" first, and then get every single other album. Get a group of friends together, bake something and make apple cider. Wear cute scarfs and exchange Christmas ornaments or something....whatever you do, put Coldplay on the stereo. I am not even going to list songs because you need to have them all. This is a no exception cold weather band.
You are welcome for your newest December playlist. Bundle up, and enjoy!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Extracted Ramblings
I am not sure how to get words onto paper. My thoughts are not comprehendible and the thought of picking one from the canvas of my heart and mind seems about as daunting as picking out the banana from a strawberry pineapple banana smoothie like the ones we had so often in Costa Rica. So as I extract random thoughts from the blender of a brain that I have, please forgive the randomness. And welcome once again to my chaotic anarchy.
Since being back in the States, I look at things differently. I look at relationships differently. I look at my money and what I spend it on differently. I look at my struggles differently. In retrospect, I don’t think any of these things are different but on the contrary…I am different. I am the thing that has changed. I came back to everything and everyone being as they were before I left. And yet here I am in many circumstances that look NOTHING like they did 6 months ago.
I am the most un-motivated person ever right now. No thanks to the holiday based on eating your life away. Feeling a little too blimp-like.
I really cant get this truth in my mind: “We are saved by grace ALONE. Through faith ALONE. And the faith to believe in that grace is given to us by God so that NOBODY has ANYTHING to boast about except for GOD. It means that salvation belongs to God and that you by your behavior cannot save yourself. You doing these things and not doing these things does not magically give you right-standing before God. If you will stand holy before God, it will require an act of God and praise His name on the cross, He did it. It is by Christ’s merit alone that we can stand holy before God. We ONLY have the blood of Christ to plead before God. This absolutely frees you up to pursue God whole heartedly.” My actions do not display a real deep deep belief in this truth that I do not have to earn my right standing before God.
I am so accustomed to performance based faith that it is so hard for me to understand unconditional love. This gets reflected all too often in my personal life. I am trying very hard to love like Christ loves. But the prayer that God would show me how to love like He loves is a hard prayer to pray. Especially when you know first hand what it feels like to LOVE your heart out and get nothing in return. Its gut wrenching. And yet this is how God loves me. It is my PRIVELEDGE to love others the same way.
Its still baffling to me that the God of the Universe is in relentless pursuit of me regardless of my response. That frustrates me. And at the same time it brings me to my knees in absolute awe and worship of a God who possesses and gives perfect love. I cannot fathom this kind of love, especially in a world that makes love always seem so conditional.
I physically FEEL bad when I do not spend an adequate amount of time with the Lord on a daily basis. I am dry and empty and irritable and antsy. I need God all day every day and I need TIME with Him just us two. Shocking that I am just now coming to this conclusion. A tiny glimpse at the idiocy of my heart.
Seeing that the above paragraph has not been fulfilled this week, I am really pessimistic. God save me from myself.
I am blown away with thankfulness for the people that God has placed in my life. My family consists of 7 of my favorite people in the world. But we are messed up. Oh we are such a beautiful disaster, a team made up of tragically broken people. I kid you not, we are a bunch of wack jobs. We have stints with major sins running through the veins of each of us, but together we are GOOD. Brittney Carson, my mom, and I sat on her bed last night and talked about life and God for hours last night. We came to the conclusion that life is hard and God is good. Regardless of circumstance and even when life does not make any sense. And as I sat around a dining table laughing and talking with these 7 broken people who LOVE our God I was overwhelmed with gratefulness to the God who divinely designed and placed each of us here.
On top of the magnificent seven, I have friends that love me with the love of Christ. I do not have a huge quantity of friends but my core group are QUALITY. It matters. Sarah Nash, my newfound YWAM friend from Australia encourages me like God encourages me. She LISTENS to me and asks questions. She seems very interested in everything I say, then validates my emotions, and offers her opinion, even when it differs from what I think. She PUSHES me towards the cross, and the reason I love our friendship so much is that it is a beautiful reflection of what my relationship with God looks like. Three other YWAM girls I could echo this praise. I can tear up at the mercy God has show me and lavished blessings on me through my 6 months in Denver/Panama/Costa Rica. Megan Templin is another prime example of the Lord’s love for me. Our relationship shows me that God is GOOD and that He loves me. I love God more for creating Megan and am beyond blessed that I get to call her my best friend. And of course Becca Feagin shows me that God loves me enough that He cannot leave me where I am. That I need progressive sanctification CONSTANTLY. Becca loves me HARD and loves me in a way that hurts sometimes, but ALWAYS leads me into a deeper appreciation of who God is and how merciful He is. I am seriously tearing up. I sometimes take for granted the wonderful relationships that I get to call my own.
My WICKED heart can sometimes disregard all of the blessings that I am so eternally grateful for just because one relationship is strained. My thoughts so quickly try and dwell on what is wrong, what hurts, and what isn’t easy before it wanders to what is easy. And me being analytical, I will make myself miserable trying to fix whatever problem is haunting me for the hour. I say hour because it can change within sixty minutes. I am so up and down and that makes me feel unstable. I do not like not being in control. Anyways this is my apology to the God who loves me and sends me things and relationships to better me regardless of the occasional pain that they bring me. Taking time to sit and think of all that I am thankful for is something good I have to say for this November holiday.
I want to love God more than I do. But there are parts of my heart that I do not always want to submit to him. I want more God. I long for it.
The fact that I am not consumed with idolatry in the form of co-dependency is BIZARRE. I don’t know how to explain it. I cried MULTIPLE times throughout outreach because of my heart acknowledging its freedom from the sin that owned me for so very long. There is no explanation of how I got to a point of freedom outside of the GRACE and MERCY of God. I didn’t know what it felt like to be free. And here I am walking in some degree of freedom. Oh our God is so good, so massively powerful, so gloriously triumphant over sin! Sin has no power over us anymore. Hallelujah.
I am tired. My last thought of the night concludes with exhaustion. Sorry for the maze through my head. Honesty though, is another thing that I have become very acquainted with lately. So honestly….Im not THAT sorry. And honestly God is the reason I can be thankful for anything. God has provided. God has given and taken away, praise be the name of the Lord. I am thankful for HIS grace, HIS mercy, HIS love. And a lot of times in my life those things have manifested in family, friendships, food, music, and sunshine. So thankful tonight.
Happy Turkey Day
Since being back in the States, I look at things differently. I look at relationships differently. I look at my money and what I spend it on differently. I look at my struggles differently. In retrospect, I don’t think any of these things are different but on the contrary…I am different. I am the thing that has changed. I came back to everything and everyone being as they were before I left. And yet here I am in many circumstances that look NOTHING like they did 6 months ago.
I am the most un-motivated person ever right now. No thanks to the holiday based on eating your life away. Feeling a little too blimp-like.
I really cant get this truth in my mind: “We are saved by grace ALONE. Through faith ALONE. And the faith to believe in that grace is given to us by God so that NOBODY has ANYTHING to boast about except for GOD. It means that salvation belongs to God and that you by your behavior cannot save yourself. You doing these things and not doing these things does not magically give you right-standing before God. If you will stand holy before God, it will require an act of God and praise His name on the cross, He did it. It is by Christ’s merit alone that we can stand holy before God. We ONLY have the blood of Christ to plead before God. This absolutely frees you up to pursue God whole heartedly.” My actions do not display a real deep deep belief in this truth that I do not have to earn my right standing before God.
I am so accustomed to performance based faith that it is so hard for me to understand unconditional love. This gets reflected all too often in my personal life. I am trying very hard to love like Christ loves. But the prayer that God would show me how to love like He loves is a hard prayer to pray. Especially when you know first hand what it feels like to LOVE your heart out and get nothing in return. Its gut wrenching. And yet this is how God loves me. It is my PRIVELEDGE to love others the same way.
Its still baffling to me that the God of the Universe is in relentless pursuit of me regardless of my response. That frustrates me. And at the same time it brings me to my knees in absolute awe and worship of a God who possesses and gives perfect love. I cannot fathom this kind of love, especially in a world that makes love always seem so conditional.
I physically FEEL bad when I do not spend an adequate amount of time with the Lord on a daily basis. I am dry and empty and irritable and antsy. I need God all day every day and I need TIME with Him just us two. Shocking that I am just now coming to this conclusion. A tiny glimpse at the idiocy of my heart.
Seeing that the above paragraph has not been fulfilled this week, I am really pessimistic. God save me from myself.
I am blown away with thankfulness for the people that God has placed in my life. My family consists of 7 of my favorite people in the world. But we are messed up. Oh we are such a beautiful disaster, a team made up of tragically broken people. I kid you not, we are a bunch of wack jobs. We have stints with major sins running through the veins of each of us, but together we are GOOD. Brittney Carson, my mom, and I sat on her bed last night and talked about life and God for hours last night. We came to the conclusion that life is hard and God is good. Regardless of circumstance and even when life does not make any sense. And as I sat around a dining table laughing and talking with these 7 broken people who LOVE our God I was overwhelmed with gratefulness to the God who divinely designed and placed each of us here.
On top of the magnificent seven, I have friends that love me with the love of Christ. I do not have a huge quantity of friends but my core group are QUALITY. It matters. Sarah Nash, my newfound YWAM friend from Australia encourages me like God encourages me. She LISTENS to me and asks questions. She seems very interested in everything I say, then validates my emotions, and offers her opinion, even when it differs from what I think. She PUSHES me towards the cross, and the reason I love our friendship so much is that it is a beautiful reflection of what my relationship with God looks like. Three other YWAM girls I could echo this praise. I can tear up at the mercy God has show me and lavished blessings on me through my 6 months in Denver/Panama/Costa Rica. Megan Templin is another prime example of the Lord’s love for me. Our relationship shows me that God is GOOD and that He loves me. I love God more for creating Megan and am beyond blessed that I get to call her my best friend. And of course Becca Feagin shows me that God loves me enough that He cannot leave me where I am. That I need progressive sanctification CONSTANTLY. Becca loves me HARD and loves me in a way that hurts sometimes, but ALWAYS leads me into a deeper appreciation of who God is and how merciful He is. I am seriously tearing up. I sometimes take for granted the wonderful relationships that I get to call my own.
My WICKED heart can sometimes disregard all of the blessings that I am so eternally grateful for just because one relationship is strained. My thoughts so quickly try and dwell on what is wrong, what hurts, and what isn’t easy before it wanders to what is easy. And me being analytical, I will make myself miserable trying to fix whatever problem is haunting me for the hour. I say hour because it can change within sixty minutes. I am so up and down and that makes me feel unstable. I do not like not being in control. Anyways this is my apology to the God who loves me and sends me things and relationships to better me regardless of the occasional pain that they bring me. Taking time to sit and think of all that I am thankful for is something good I have to say for this November holiday.
I want to love God more than I do. But there are parts of my heart that I do not always want to submit to him. I want more God. I long for it.
The fact that I am not consumed with idolatry in the form of co-dependency is BIZARRE. I don’t know how to explain it. I cried MULTIPLE times throughout outreach because of my heart acknowledging its freedom from the sin that owned me for so very long. There is no explanation of how I got to a point of freedom outside of the GRACE and MERCY of God. I didn’t know what it felt like to be free. And here I am walking in some degree of freedom. Oh our God is so good, so massively powerful, so gloriously triumphant over sin! Sin has no power over us anymore. Hallelujah.
I am tired. My last thought of the night concludes with exhaustion. Sorry for the maze through my head. Honesty though, is another thing that I have become very acquainted with lately. So honestly….Im not THAT sorry. And honestly God is the reason I can be thankful for anything. God has provided. God has given and taken away, praise be the name of the Lord. I am thankful for HIS grace, HIS mercy, HIS love. And a lot of times in my life those things have manifested in family, friendships, food, music, and sunshine. So thankful tonight.
Happy Turkey Day
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