Beauty

Slice of Life Index

Beauty in Music

Yesterday (5-20-06) my family had the privilege of attending a concert with Mary Rose Jordan as the solo piano player accompanied by the Elkhart Symphony Orchestra. She has won many musical competitions in Indiana and now she is somewhat of a celebrity here. I know her as Henna’s childhood friend and not as an accomplished musician.

I am not a musical person, yet in Mary’s music I was taken into a wonderland of imagination. It was like I saw sceneries so diverse: I saw the thundering of wild horses stampeding through vast grasslands; I saw gentle fawns munching on sweet grass, delicate fairies dancing in the air, wild storms causing all creatures to seek safety, a rising sun bringing new hope and a fresh dawn. Then I would watch Mary’s face as she played on stage. She also was lost in her music. Mary has won a scholarship from Northwestern University to continue her music program in Evanston.

My drive home from Indianapolis

It was an experience of God’s beautiful creation—majestic land, fields, farms, trees as far as the eye can see. Coming home from Indianapolis (job training & orientation, 6-5-07) I took US-33. With the winding and bending of the road, I was never quite sure what beauty lay ahead for me…like our lives. As we travel our lives’ paths, following Christ, we see the bends in the road, yet we’re never quite sure what awaits us…quite a romantic life.

Oh the beauty, oh the fresh air, partaking of God’s beauty, what healing for my soul. Then we slow down to pass small towns, just two stop lights or stop signs, then out into the open vast field of winding road to be interrupted by another small town, and again the vast expanse of beautiful fields. Oh, I see Wal-Mart. I am coming into Goshen, college, downtown, then my neighborhood…old Victorian homes…another type of beauty, so similar to my Chicago neighborhood I left behind. Thank-you Lord, any beauty You bring to me reminds me of You.