It's Italian for Symphony of Life. I'm a passionate lover of music....music of all kinds. My iPod playlists can take you through worship, Yanni, movie soundtracks/scores, oldies, hip hop, classical, Pearl Jam, and much much more all in a quick 5 minutes. Depending on my task and/or mood, the music around me is the soundtrack for my life.
Without question though, the genre of music that I become completely enveloped in and consumed by is orchestral/symphonic music. Hans Zimmer is one of my absolute favorite composers and he is a theatrical/musical mastermind that is able to capture every character, emotion, struggle, and victory and weave those individual parts into a story that is powerful enough to draw listeners in and entice them out of the very darkest, tiny corners of their souls to travel the lines and notes of the story.
The thing about orchestral music that a lot of people go their whole lives never realizing is the critical part that each instrument, player, part, and movement plays in the overall beauty and emotional portrait that is painted by the orchestra. Each breath taken, when it is taken.....every measure that's counted, the timing, finger placement, breath support, amount of pressure applied or forced air that is moved....it's all of those things happening at the right time in the right place(s). Each musician has notes to play, those notes make up their part, that part contributes to their section, and their section contributes to the overall collective. If anyone neglects to learn their part and execute it accordingly, many others are let down and the collective is not as strong as it could be. Wrong notes, lack of passion and practice, or an individual trying to go rogue and do his/her own thing to get noticed....these things only bring discord, clashing melodies, and harmonies that are not so harmonious, all of which leave listeners praying for it to just end, or walking out to save themselves. No amount of foot tapping, conducting, or set of new strings around will bring harmony to the whole if each musician is merely in it for themselves.
Whether we realize it or not....we all have a part to play in this symphony we're in. Some practice hard, show up to rehearsal, and give it their all. Good musicians are able to split their focus and play their part, but also listen to the others around and gracefully weave their lines into the piece with the others. So many people in life only care about being heard that they will make ugly, destructive noise to do so. People become jealous of the soloists that "got the solo" that they wanted and seek to undermine the soloist's talent and beauty and diminish their spirit. In doing so, they lose focus on their own part to be played that offers support and strength to what the soloist is doing...even if it means just sitting behind them during an a cappella part. Just knowing the rest of the group is there, counting along, listening intently and preparing for their entrance is the support a soloist is often looking for.
I challenge you....listen to a piece of music outside your norm. Try one with NO words...just instruments. I even put a link for you below. Focus on listening to only ONE part/instrument the entire song. Try not choosing a melody or main strain of the song...listen to the supporting parts and the depth and support they add. If you're doing it right, pretty soon you'll hear how the others support that one part and vice versa. You'll hear how critical that part is to the overall piece.
What is your part? Do you even know? Are you trying to go rogue? Are you paying attention and weaving in your part with the others around you? Although we may sit in different sections, play different instruments and have different parts, we each have a crucial, vital part to play in this symphony of life. We need to put our own agendas back in the folder under the chair, listen to what is going on around us and focus on practicing and executing our part to the best of our abilities so that we may also offer support to the entire orchestra. An orchestra is many moving parts learning to ebb and flow, move and be moved, respond and advance....together. The ones that cannot do that may just be asked to leave the stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqlddXTcRWQ
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Letters To My Childhood....#219
Dear Mini Molly,
I can see you...sitting there, at your desk in your room. Algebra book splayed, paper smudged with eraser marks, and your pencil is dangling lifelessly between your fingers as it contemplates jumping from the cliff of frustration and defeat. You're trying your best to hold your head in your hand in just the right position so that nobody can see the tears that are spilling over your cheeks. Only I can know that inside your head, you're fighting a battle. There's a war raging between a cancerous defeat and an incessant expectation to persevere.
As you hang there by a tenuous strand of variables and exponents, your shoulders are slumping more and more, your whimsical hair is showing signs of nervous twirling (you STILL do that...STOP IT.), and you slowly slide your head down and rest it against the cool, unforgiving desktop. I know you want to give up, you want to scream, you want to slam the book shut and throw it....yes, yes, that would make you feel better wouldn't it??!! Algebra is never going to be easy for you; I can promise you that. It's the going to be the nemesis that taints your Freshman year and scars your overall GPA for your entire high school path. Here comes dad....he's going to check your answer for the problem he asked you to do.....that you haven't even started. I'm wondering if this is a good time to tell you that Algebra is not the first, nor the last, struggling encounter you're going to have?
You're going to face many, many more situations where you'll have a choice to submit to defeat, or push through the doubt and fear to ensure you arrive at the finish. When you leave for college and your heart is aching for family and home, your sister will be the close by face of love and assurance that will get you through. When one of your most cherished friends from high school loses his life in a car accident, his mom and the friends you shared will remind you of his goodness and the happiness he gave to all. When you watch your sister and her husband say goodbye to their son, your nephew, after only 24 hours of life, a guy named AJ, who will be your fiance`, will pick up the pieces of your broken heart and slowly put it back together. (PS...he's a good one!) When you and AJ, married with a 4-month old son you will name Logan, decide to pack up your life and move to East Tennessee where you know nobody, your Mom, Dad, and friends Seth and Pete will make the journey with you to ensure you get settled into the next chapter of your life. When AJ has to have heart surgery at the age of 31, it will be the prayers of your church family and the support of your in-laws at your side that will carry you through the six hour long surgery and hold up you when you're crying out your fear in the parking garage of the Cleveland Clinic. And lastly, when you have no choice but to walk away from the perceived stability of a career, and close, meaningful friendships, all of these people and so many more will wrap you up in the fuzzy, warm blanket of love and support. They will hand you tissues when you cry, pray with you when you pray, laugh with you when you laugh, and do the "happy dance" and jump and celebrate when you celebrate in victory over your struggles. In each one of these instances, notice that are always two common elements.
First, in each instance, you will have the choice to succumb to defeat or dust off the dirt and put one foot in front of the other towards the finish. You're a fighter girl...but let me tell ya', you suck at asking for help. You try to do too much on your own. Secondly, you often confuse the need for strength with weakness, when in actuality you get your strength comes from those around you. See, so many people give up on God because they feel like they don't have enough "hard evidence" or the "right answers to their questions"...but when you can reach out for an extended hand to pull you up...what more proof do you need?? He lives in all of us who invite Him in...and then He uses us all to wrap each other up in His really big love-hugs that sustain and give strength to keep going. Having to rely on others doesn't mean you're weak, it means your strength rest in something much bigger than you alone. Yeah, you're going to hurt, you'll learn what friends do and don't do, and those closest to you will let you down. But life without them would mean a life with some of the best moments you're going to experience...so allow forgiveness to cover your hurts, leave behind what's not good, and take the extended hands that will help you up.
You're going to make it Lil' Molls. You're going to be alright. Algebra will soon pass and be a distant memory that you end up relying on when you're sitting face to face with the frustrated Algebra student you're tutoring. Just remember to smile and laugh....and ALWAYS share them with others. God did not intend life to be done alone....so quit thinking you've got to do this all on your onesie. Revel and share in the strength of His loving family. Ask for help, not because you can't do something, but because you want to learn, get stronger, and be ready to extend a hand to someone else.
You Go Girl,
Grown-Up Molls
I can see you...sitting there, at your desk in your room. Algebra book splayed, paper smudged with eraser marks, and your pencil is dangling lifelessly between your fingers as it contemplates jumping from the cliff of frustration and defeat. You're trying your best to hold your head in your hand in just the right position so that nobody can see the tears that are spilling over your cheeks. Only I can know that inside your head, you're fighting a battle. There's a war raging between a cancerous defeat and an incessant expectation to persevere.
As you hang there by a tenuous strand of variables and exponents, your shoulders are slumping more and more, your whimsical hair is showing signs of nervous twirling (you STILL do that...STOP IT.), and you slowly slide your head down and rest it against the cool, unforgiving desktop. I know you want to give up, you want to scream, you want to slam the book shut and throw it....yes, yes, that would make you feel better wouldn't it??!! Algebra is never going to be easy for you; I can promise you that. It's the going to be the nemesis that taints your Freshman year and scars your overall GPA for your entire high school path. Here comes dad....he's going to check your answer for the problem he asked you to do.....that you haven't even started. I'm wondering if this is a good time to tell you that Algebra is not the first, nor the last, struggling encounter you're going to have?
You're going to face many, many more situations where you'll have a choice to submit to defeat, or push through the doubt and fear to ensure you arrive at the finish. When you leave for college and your heart is aching for family and home, your sister will be the close by face of love and assurance that will get you through. When one of your most cherished friends from high school loses his life in a car accident, his mom and the friends you shared will remind you of his goodness and the happiness he gave to all. When you watch your sister and her husband say goodbye to their son, your nephew, after only 24 hours of life, a guy named AJ, who will be your fiance`, will pick up the pieces of your broken heart and slowly put it back together. (PS...he's a good one!) When you and AJ, married with a 4-month old son you will name Logan, decide to pack up your life and move to East Tennessee where you know nobody, your Mom, Dad, and friends Seth and Pete will make the journey with you to ensure you get settled into the next chapter of your life. When AJ has to have heart surgery at the age of 31, it will be the prayers of your church family and the support of your in-laws at your side that will carry you through the six hour long surgery and hold up you when you're crying out your fear in the parking garage of the Cleveland Clinic. And lastly, when you have no choice but to walk away from the perceived stability of a career, and close, meaningful friendships, all of these people and so many more will wrap you up in the fuzzy, warm blanket of love and support. They will hand you tissues when you cry, pray with you when you pray, laugh with you when you laugh, and do the "happy dance" and jump and celebrate when you celebrate in victory over your struggles. In each one of these instances, notice that are always two common elements.
First, in each instance, you will have the choice to succumb to defeat or dust off the dirt and put one foot in front of the other towards the finish. You're a fighter girl...but let me tell ya', you suck at asking for help. You try to do too much on your own. Secondly, you often confuse the need for strength with weakness, when in actuality you get your strength comes from those around you. See, so many people give up on God because they feel like they don't have enough "hard evidence" or the "right answers to their questions"...but when you can reach out for an extended hand to pull you up...what more proof do you need?? He lives in all of us who invite Him in...and then He uses us all to wrap each other up in His really big love-hugs that sustain and give strength to keep going. Having to rely on others doesn't mean you're weak, it means your strength rest in something much bigger than you alone. Yeah, you're going to hurt, you'll learn what friends do and don't do, and those closest to you will let you down. But life without them would mean a life with some of the best moments you're going to experience...so allow forgiveness to cover your hurts, leave behind what's not good, and take the extended hands that will help you up.
You're going to make it Lil' Molls. You're going to be alright. Algebra will soon pass and be a distant memory that you end up relying on when you're sitting face to face with the frustrated Algebra student you're tutoring. Just remember to smile and laugh....and ALWAYS share them with others. God did not intend life to be done alone....so quit thinking you've got to do this all on your onesie. Revel and share in the strength of His loving family. Ask for help, not because you can't do something, but because you want to learn, get stronger, and be ready to extend a hand to someone else.
You Go Girl,
Grown-Up Molls
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