Yep!
It's that time again! It's Tuesday! The 3rd day of the week! This
Tuesday happens to be the 18th day of the month! It's the 321st day of
the year!! Since we're here we may as well say it...Only 37 shopping
days until Christmas...but let's not get in too big of a hurry...ONLY 10
MORE DAYS UNTIL THANKSGIVING... #respecttheturkey...Anyway, Welcome
To Tuesday and the 18th Day of November edition of Tuesday's Musical
Notes!!! We have lots to do in our brief time together so let's get to
it! Welcome!
For
some, counting the days down until a big event is an exciting way to
remember a special time that is in the future. These countdowns remind
us of the time constraints that we place on ourselves to accomplish tasks
prior to a big event. Occasionally, countdowns are a way to stoke the
fires of anticipation for the event itself. Not surprisingly, there is
even a countdown app available for most smart phones to help keep
you reminded of the time you have left before the big day (Free Countdown app at iTunes).
With all the focus on the future, sometimes we tend to forget to enjoy
the here and now...the future will take care of itself somehow... With
this hurry-up, instant gratification mentality permeating our culture,
it is easy to see how some may attempt to live their life in one day...
(Please do not adjust your dial, the following video is supposed to appear to have glitches...kinda fun, huh?!)
Although
he never dominated the charts, Howard Jones placed his unique stamp of
uptempo, synthesizer driven, positive songs on the popular music scene
of the 80's. His debut album, 1984's Human's Lib, went to #1 on the UK charts (#59 in the US). His followup, 1985's Dream Into Action,
would soar to #10 on the US charts with support of 3 top 20 singles
("Things Can Only Get Better" US #5, "Look Mama", UK #10, and "Life In
One Day", US #19). Jones' most popular song would also come from this
album. "No One Ever Is To Blame" would reach the #4 spot in 1986,
after having been rerecorded with drum work, backing vocals and
production work by Phil Collins to make it more radio friendly. It was also a feature song at Tuesday's Musical Notes (March 2011, the email version). Look for the reimagination of that email in future "First Tuesday" blogs.
"Life
In One Day" is one of those "ear candy" songs that is instantly
recognized with its synth pop intro and 80's feel. Lyrically it speaks
to making the best of this very moment (which obviously you believe in
doing by reading today's Notes...thank you very much). Even in the
1980's it was easy to feel like our lives were being put into fast
forward. With the technological advancements we have seen in the last
30 years, (yep, next year this song will be 30 years old...) it would be
easy to say that we are able to achieve much more in the 14-18 waking
hours that we have in each day. Unfortunately, we see an increasing
push to advance that productivity even higher. Please do not
misunderstand. Tuesday's Musical Notes understands the importance of
productivity and by no means advocates laziness. The Notes difficulty
lies in the drive to overproduce that leads to neglected families and burnout.
How long has it been since you enjoyed a day where you "didn't take
life so seriously"... and maybe just read a book without the worry of
"all the things I have to get done" running around in your head?
This "filling up every minute with something" mentality goes
against many of the precepts found in the Bible. In fact, in
the 2nd verse of Genesis 2, the Bible tells us that God "rested from all
His work". In fact, He found so much enjoyment in His resting that He "blessed
the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the
work of creating that He had done." (Verse 3) So if the creator AND
sustainer of the universe took the time to relax and enjoy His
productivity, logic would dictate that His creation would also need a
day to rest, reflect, and respond to His glorious blessings.
God
also felt rest was important enough to include it in His Ten
Commandments. In Exodus 20, God gave Moses the laws by which the
Israelite nation would be governed as they went to and eventually
settled the promised land. These commandments have been the
guideposts for law and morality since they were etched into the stone on
Mt. Sinai. They are standards by which much of mankind's governing
rules have been based. Unfortunately, the first section of the
Commandments, those regarding man's relationship with God, have been
cast aside for most of the world's population. Only devout Jews and Christians hold to the commandments which focus on our relationship with God.
It
is in the middle of these commands that we find God detailing a day of
focus and reflection specifically on our relationship to Him. Far too
many times, we "speed our time away" by filling it with activities that
do not cause us to pause and rest. Anymore it seems that Sunday's are
another day of work, sports activities, and church activities. All of
which have the potential to clutter the rest time that we physically and
spiritually need. The church is not immune to the busyness of our
days. We tend to try to compact as much as we can into our 2-3 hours
together per week all the while our "hereditary bone" is crying out for
nothing more than time spent communicating with God.
If
we look at Jesus' ministry, we see that His season among man was
certainly limited, He still made time to refresh and reinvigorate His
relationship with God the Father, (Luke 5:16 NIV), He felt that His disciples needed a break, (Mark 6:30-31 NIV), and He promised that He would provide rest to believers, (Matthew 11:28 NIV).
So in the Old Testament, God the Father commands that we observe a holy
day of rest, following His example, and in the New Testament, Jesus
(God the Son) affirms that we should have times of quiet and rest. Both
of these are achieved through the workings of the Holy Spirit (God the
Spirit) as He communicates with our spirits about our physical and
spiritual well beings.
There
our times in our lives where we must examine why we have filled every
waking minute with busyness. If our motivations are to get ahead of
everyone else, we would be wise to realize, "the grass is never greener
over there". If our motivation is to always be seen as being productive,
we wind up finding ourselves spent to the point of being
counterproductive or burned out. If we convince ourselves that our busyness is God
motivated, then according to the scripture (God's Word on the subject)
we are deceiving ourselves, as God wants the best for us and that
includes some time to "play your flute and dance and sing along..."
'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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