Maestro! May My Eyes and Heart Be on You!

Maestro definition: Master Conductor, expert, genius, prodigy, pro, virtuoso, a great or distinguished figure in any sphere.

I’m sure you’ve been there when an orchestra is tuning up before their concert. All of those musicians are doing their own thing to check out their instrument – to be sure it’s in tune. Those players are not in sync or in harmony. How could anything beautiful come from what sounds so disharmonious and chaotic. But, in a matter of minutes, it is like a switch was flipped and the Maestro appears. He tap, tap taps his baton and, voila, the chaos turns into the most melodic, rhythmic, harmonious, sweet sounding and beautiful music. The appearance of the Maestro changed everything. Every eye and ear of the orchestra was set on their Maestro, and he guided them through a symphony of delight to all who were captured by the richness of their symphony.

If there were no Maestro, the musicians would continue to be doing their own thing that continued to result in an abundance of NOISE. Isn’t that similar to our world today? So much noise of anger, animosity, dissension and voices of “know it alls” – so much criticism of this and that in our world with CHAOS abounding.

On Ash Wednesday, last week – the day when many Christians went to church to focus on their MAESTRO and it was also the day when yet another tragic shooting took place in a Florida school. The perpetrator’s maestro was not God but the enemy of his soul. The reaction by the NOISY masses was “We need gun control. We need more mental illness awareness.” In the meantime, the ONE – the MAESTRO – our Creator – had been terminated from schools. Our MAESTRO was no longer welcomed in prayer or any other acknowledgement of Him. I can’t help but believe if God were still allowed in our schools, it would be very different today.

My point today is welcoming our MAESTRO to lead again because when He is leading – a spectacular symphony is heard. And in similar ways, our lives create a beautiful symphony of harmony and melodic music when we depend, rely, and fully follow the direction of our Maestro – our Master Conductor. There may be chaos, disharmony and disagreement on so many levels around us, but if OUR eyes and OUR ears are fixed on the peace, joy, and harmony that God represents in our lives and when we follow His lead, He will turn the chaos and disharmony of our life into a beautiful symphony of peace. That music will be a sweet, sweet sound in His ears and in the ears of those in our life. I think of the prayer of St. Francis as I type this post, "Lord, make me an "instrument" of your peace!" May peace be the song in our heart, in our mind, and in our mouth as we follow our Maestro's lead.

I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice
To worship You, oh my soul, rejoice!
Take joy my King in what You hear.
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.

Psalm 57:7 "My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music."

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The second verse of this wonderful Christmas carol is:

"Said the little lamb to the Shepard boy,

Do you hear what I hear? Ringing through the sky Shepard boy

Do you hear what I hear? A song, a song, high above the trees,

With a voice as big as the sea. With a voice as big as the sea."

What is that song the little lamb was referring to? The song of of God made flesh as a heaven-sent baby that brought hope, peace, joy and love to this world. Yesterday, I wrote about “seeing” the Conductor of our orchestra – removing any distractions that would hinder our view of Him. Today, I take it a step further and ask “What is keeping you from HEARING the voice of our Shepherd?

"Can you hear me?" "Are you listening to me?" Those are words that I know our Heavenly Father must say to us time and time again, but we're so caught up in the "noise" going on in our lives -- the TV, telephone, radio, computer, social media, overburdened with to do's, and thinking about everything except for tuning in to the "Shepherd" frequency in our lives.

Many times, like our children, we do hear, but we're just not obeying. In fact, we may be as guilty as our kids are when we've told them time and time again to do something.....and they become little "drama queens and kings" and totally act like they never heard us. And, so often, the things we say to our children are the very things God wants us — His children — to hear: “I’m the parent and you're the child -- that's why!" “If you had paid attention to me, you would have avoided that mess.” “Trust Me. I know what's best for you.”

I have some good tidings of great joy for us today. We CAN hear God's voice. The Bible, God's love letter to mankind, makes it clear that we were created with the ability to have two-way communication with Him. Jesus tells us in John 10:27, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."

I pray for us today: "Dear God, please help us to listen carefully to what You have to say to us. Please help us to be "first responders" to YOUR voice. Amid all the craziness of this big world and the busyness in our own little worlds, may we tune in to YOUR frequency, your voice -- whether it's your still, small voice or your obvious loud and clear voice.....not eventually, but immediately! Thank you for your patience as our loving Father! Amen.

What is Blocking Your View?

IWhat is Blocking Your View?

If you’ve been a musician in an orchestra, you know that seeing the conductor throughout the symphony, is of paramount importance. That’s why you’ll notice that the placement of every chair is in direct eyes' view of the one that is directing and leading the music. The conductor is responsible for the start of the symphony, setting the tempo, ensuring correct entries by various members of the orchestra and communicating to the musicians through hand and eye gestures.

The question is….who or what is blocking the view of YOUR Conductor? Maybe someone mistreated or spoke falsely about you. That one is all you can think about, so they are keeping you from seeing your Conductor. Maybe your children are blocking your view of the Conductor. Maybe your financial or health situation or the stress and press of the holidays are blocking your view. The point is – anything that keeps our eyes from seeing from first seeing our Conductor is what causes our faith to wane. The anxiety of our circumstances is what keep us from focusing on our Lord. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6. When we keep our eyes on Him -- He will handle the symphony of our lives.

When we focus on the ONE who said, "I am the LIGHT of the world, whoever follows ME, will NEVER walk in darkness" (John 8:12), then the darkness will diminish. As we're drawn to focus on and spend time with the LIGHT, (our Conductor) and stay in fellowship with HIM, spending time in His Word, thinking about HIM -- our Conductor and He Who knows everything about everything, the answers we need will come from Him. The divine set-ups and divine appointments and the divine "suddenlies" will start providing what we need. Our music will reflect His tempo, His starts and His finishes of our symphony.

Maybe it's time to get a new seat in the orchestra -- one that SEES our Conductor -- His hand gestures and His eyes that are on us. His LIGHT shines so brightly and desires to dispel the darkness that is around us. I promise you, He is the most reliable Counselor, the most indescribable Prince of Peace and the ultimate source for restoring LIGHT to our world as the Conductor of our "unfinished" symphony!

Maestro (Master Conductor) Make My Life a Symphony!

Have you heard an orchestra tuning up before a concert? How could anything beautiful come from what sounds so disharmonious and chaotic. But, then, it all changes! The Maestro appears and you hear a tap, tap, tap of his baton. And, voila, suddenly the chaos turns to the most melodic, rhythmic, harmonious, sweet sounding and beautiful music. The fact is, if there were no Maestro, the players would be doing their own thing that just resulted in NOISE. Aw, but when the Maestro is leading – a spectacular symphony is heard. And, here’s some really good news. Our lives can be a beautiful symphony of harmony and melodic music – if we depend, rely, and fully follow the direction of our Master Conductor. When we follow His lead, He will turn the chaos and disharmony of our life into a beautiful symphony of peace. That music will be a sweet, sweet sound in His ears and in the ears of those in our life. I think of the prayer of St. Francis as I type this post, "Lord, make me an "instrument" of your peace!" May peace be the song in our heart, in our mind, and in our mouth as we follow our Maestro's lead.