This week’s blog and podcast is taking a bit of an unexpected turn once again. Perhaps I should start getting used to that! The Lord seems to steer things in a different direction so often, and it does make it interesting at times, to say nothing of getting a little figurative whiplash!
This is a bit of a story from this past week. If you already receive my newsletter, you will know some of this from my most recent weekly update. But this will be an expanded version of the story. Sometimes it becomes quite apparent that the “Master Gardener” in our lives is incredibly creative, tilling the ground, pruning us, fertilizing the earth at our feet, etc. If we are the “plants” in this scenario, it can seem painful to be pruned, and we might not understand why He does things in certain ways. But His vision is always for that beautiful growth “in Him”. Life seems like that so often, and this week was no different.
Hard Work
As I probably mentioned at the end of my last podcast, my intention was to have another in-home live-streamed concert last Thursday. It’s been a blessing to be able to share those in recent months, and every month’s stream serves to teach me so much, prompting improvement along the way. Well, last week LOOKED like things were finally going to work, with both the video AND audio. I had tweaked things a bit, and finally my video camera was cooperating. And the music part had been my focus in recent months, so that had been working much better in the past concert or two (after all, it’s kind of difficult to have a CONCERT if the audio doesn’t work correctly)!
These events require a lot from me because I’m wearing all the hats, between setting things up, running all the equipment and then actually singing and playing! It’s challenging, but so rewarding when the music is later able to bless and encourage others. It makes all the hard work worth it.
So, right as the live-stream was supposed to begin, YouTube notified me that the stream needed to be set up. WHAT???!!! I’d had it set up for weeks. And then for the next 10 minutes or so the effort to sign in, connect everything repeatedly and get that squared away was pretty unsuccessful. Long story short, when it seemed that the time was slipping by, and it was possible that it was actually already going live online, I just opted to start the concert anyway. My software is set up to record it to my hard drive while streaming by default, so I believed I’d have a video to share later on (which had happened a time or two in the past).
Right before singing the final song, my glance fell on a button that said “go live” that should have been clicked at the beginning but hadn’t been as visible then (go figure!;)
So I clicked it, and reasoned that maybe at least that last song would go up online (which later became apparent that it DID). Now that brief livestream remains on my channel for the time being (mostly for anyone who wants to witness my “epic fail”, or commiserate or pray for me, LOL)! Sadly though, when listening back to that replay and checking out the video that had been recorded to my computer, for some reason the spoken words were fine, but when the songs began, the music was terribly choppy… So there was sadly no music audio that was salvageable. Down the road there may be video images or spoken words that might be usable, but no songs to share (which is my main reason for having the CONCERTS in the first place, of course)!
Back to the drawing board as far as doing MORE tweaking and learning how to get these settings right. (Trusting that by the grace of God, He will help me get that down so that it becomes more effective over time!)
Stay the Course
Are you the same way that I am? After working so hard on something like that and suddenly for all that work to have nothing to show for it tangibly can be emotionally difficult to say the least. Of course, my heart was contented in the Lord. At the same time, my prayer was for encouragement, and for motivation not to give up, but to stay the course, and seek out the grace in the midst of that challenge.
So, my plan had originally been to use the day after the live-stream to make any tweaks to the audio or video and put up a more polished replay of the concert. Now, those plans changed, because none of the songs were listenable.
BUT, over the past few weeks, something had been simmering on the back burner of my mind, having to do with LAST month’s concert. There was one of the songs from that concert that I’d been considering using as the basis for a music video. It’s a song called “Blossom”, and one of the people who loves my CD’s had commented on that song in the past, saying how great it would be to put it in a video because the lyrics would lend themselves to lots of pictures of gardens, flowers, etc. One of the lines in the lyrics says for us (as the flowers blooming in His garden) to “glisten in the dew”. That image became something of a focus over this springtime in my own garden, as the early perennials began to bloom. Every time it would be “one of those mornings” or after a sprinkle, when the flowers were moistened, I’d go out and try to catch some pictures, before the moment passed.
So last week, during that unexpected extra day when the plan had been to edit the concert, it paved the way for some time to put together this video of my song “Blossom”. You may have seen that video in recent days. If not (or if you want to re-watch it), please do check it out (I’ll put a link at the bottom of this page). The video begins with the live performance (vocal and guitar) from last month’s livestream. Then mid-way through, it fades over to the CD version of the song to finish out the video. Scattered throughout are pictures of some of those beautiful spring flowers from the past couple of months.
Also, near the end there is a picture of a close up of a Siberian Iris with some text explaining it. Those irises are in bloom right now in my garden, and they are about to put on their full display. In fact, this morning I took the picture in the thumbnail for this blog post.
Beauty
Those who know me well probably have heard this story many times, but for those who don’t, that particular flower holds a special spot in my heart, because it grabbed my attention in the right place at the right time as a teenager. It must have been this time of year, and was likely near or on my birthday. I was probably around sixteen years old or so. Maybe younger? Sweet thing is that the very flowers in my garden now are descendants from the original flowers from our garden during my younger years. They went to my father’s house with him over the years, and I likely got a division from him somewhere along the line and put them in my garden where they now put on a show each spring.
What I do remember back in my youth is staring into the middle of that flower and seeing it with “young” eyes. To me it looked like someone had literally taken a little paint brush and painted it. Seeing that beautiful handiwork was one of the earliest evidences that caused my young heart to think that of COURSE there had to be a God. Who else would have been able to paint that? And over the years, it has also expanded to sunrises, sunsets and other beautiful things. The question resounds in my heart … where did such beauty come from, and in many instances, what purpose does it serve but to thrill our hearts and cause them to look to the Artist who created them? Yes, I know, maybe the beautiful colors in the flower attract the bugs that need to pollinate it, yada, yada, yada…. But why do THEY want to draw near to that beauty? Just sayin’. If you don’t believe in God, maybe ponder the purpose of beauty and get back to me in the comment section about your theory.
He Can Show His Glory by Forming You
If you do watch the video, please drop a comment or shoot me an email letting me know your thoughts. There’s a line in the song that says “He can show His glory by forming YOU”. Have you ever thought about the One who created YOU. He is incredible. Very creative (of course, LOL!), a Master Artist and Gardener, and so much more. Yes, having our lives pruned at times can be painful, but when we look back and see the beauty that was formed out of those seasons, it becomes worth it to have gone through the difficulties. Sometimes those very instances are what makes us have the beautiful and tender hearts that are produced by those challenges.
Probably in a few upcoming episodes there will be opportunity to explore some more “gardening themes” that can expand that word picture of Him being such a good Gardener in our lives. For now, I’ll leave it at this. Please do listen to the song. And please remember, He is at work in your life and heart. He desires for you to flourish and thrive in His vineyard. He is faithful, and even when we don’t quite understand why He is doing things the way He is, He has a purpose and plan for it.
Sort of like a time I was recently lopping off some large branches from some shrubs in our garden. These bushes can grow in some “out of control” ways if not steered in the right direction. They can get overgrown and start growing up on other bushes, etc. It probably wasn’t the most pleasant thing on earth for those plants to have huge limbs taken off…. But now the new growth is coming, and it’s growing in a healthier direction. Maybe He’s using some losses in your life, some things that you’ve had to lose in order to create room for Him to do a new thing in and through you. Let’s trust the Master to know the best way. My plants don’t really have to DO much but sit there, let me care for them, and soak in the sun, air and water in the soil.
May He cause YOU to flourish and bloom as you rest in His care.