Top 'O the mornin' to ye lads and lasses! Tis Tuesday the 17th of March and a great day to be livin'!!! Today we celebrate the Sainted priest of Ireland, Patrick and we show it by wearin' 'O the green and havin' a bit 'O pep to our step. Patrick has been Sainted in Ireland and canonized in The Musical Notes of this Tuesday upon occasion. Let's reflect a bit shall wee? Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Danny Boy" (Various Artists, Celtic Women), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" (The Proclaimers) Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! (But at an appropriate distance...)
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Musical Notes...
Welcome to Tuesday. It's a most unusual day as the entire world is determining just exactly how they will react to a virus. (Global pandemic sounds so "Sky is falling...") In the midst of all of this, Tuesday's Musical Notes would like to provide you with a reminder that may just help with your reality at this time in history...
Now that we've hopefully calmed you off the ledge...
Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes! It's the best place to be when we've no place to be!!! (And honestly, that could be a whole lot of us today!)
Tuesday's Musical Notes exists to provide a reminder via the art form of music to a different time in your life. That time could be a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, or it could be just around the Riverbend. Regardless of the memory, we hope that The Notes causes you to gather your children close to your breast (and have them read The Notes of course!!!), creates in you a desire to pause and reflect, and maybe, just maybe, reading the notes will cause a spontaneous movement of the ends of your mouth to curve up a bit more or your pondering of the notes will begin an uncontrollable bobbing of the head as you anticipate that familiar chorus, like this one...oh here she comes...
Pouncing all the way to #1 in December of 1982, "Maneater" continues to be one of Hall and Oates' (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' (Righteous Brothers/Hall and Oates cover)) biggest hits. It stayed at the top spot for four weeks, longer than any of their other five #1 hits. It helped propel H2O, their eleventh studio album, to as high as #3 on the Billboard 200 album chart where it stayed for an impressive sixty-eight weeks. With its follow up to "Maneater", "One on One", H2O would go to double Platinum status with sales in excess of two million copies by 1985.
John Oates explains a little about the nature of the song in the fact that it isn't about a woman at all, like so many think it is. It is about the greed and avarice of the metropolis of New York City. (I wonder if they have any toilet paper...) The whole ideology of it being about a woman makes it easier for listeners to understand and embrace the lyric according to Oates in the following article. "Hall and Oates’ ‘I Can’t Go For That’ isn’t about what you think it’s about; neither is ‘Maneater’" March 25, 2014, somethingelsereviews.com You've really got to watch those songwriters with their penchant for symbolism!
Greed and avarice are themes often disdained in Biblical accounts. These bad qualities of human nature, with their partners, jealousy, and hatred, have cause suffering by millions throughout history.
In our St. Patrick's Day musical notes (What?!! you missed the salute to St. Patrick?!! Please take a moment and scroll back to the top and click on BOTH links...I promise you'll be engaged, enlightened and ear wormed!) you may have noticed, greed, avarice, jealousy, and hatred evident in the life of the man who is celebrated for bringing Christianity to Ireland. (Nope, it's not about green beer after all...).
St. Patrick's story is very reminiscent of Joseph's in the Bible. He was essentially sold into slavery by his brothers, then traded to the captain of the bodyguards of the Pharoah of Egypt. Joseph was well-liked by his bosses and quickly rose to be the captain's right-hand man. And then the tide turns, so to speak.
As if Joseph's life hadn't been "interesting" up to this point (Yup, here's where I encourage you to go check the archives from the last few weeks!!!), he encounters a "maneater" in the palace as he is faithfully discharging his duties. Let's pick up Joseph's story here (Oh, here she comes!!!): Genesis 39 New American Standard Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel
Apparently, Joseph was a looker. So much so that he caught the eye of Mrs. Potiphar. One would imagine as the wife of a powerful man, she could basically have had anything she wanted. Chances are very high, and given the culture of the time, she had pulled this stunt with other servants in Potiphar's house, probably not getting caught. "Nothing is new, I've seen her here before..." At this moment, her desire's led her to Joseph.
Joseph was raised in a culture where he knew that what Mrs. Potiphar proposed was wrong and would be displeasing to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He resisted her invitations day after day. One day, when there were no other people in the house, she laid her trap. In Mrs. Potiphar's eyes, there was no reason Joseph should tell her "no". She physically assaulted Joseph and in his attempt to escape, he lost his outer garment. "She's deadly man, she can really rip your world apart..." And Mrs. Potiphar did just that.
Joseph was in a "He said, she said" position and was immediately tossed into prison for a crime he did not commit. Once again, Joseph took hold of his situation and made the best of it. (That's a good example for the times in which we live) Because the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, Joseph gained the admiration and trust of his fellow prisoners and the chief jailer. Once again rising to a position of authority and trust. (Yes, it was a prison, but at least he wasn't the low man on the totem pole!)
So what do you do in the face of temptation or adversity? Another good question for the times in which we exist. Do you take the easy road and give in to the temptation causing wrong-doing (sin) to come into your life? "Mind over matter, ooh the beauty is there, but the beast is in the heart..." Do you get creative and find ways to overcome adversity and make things more pleasant for yourself and those around you? Have you lived a life where you can say the Lord is with you and shows you kindness in those times?
As we seemingly pause a lot of the business of our lives, wisdom would suggest that we take a moment and have a bit of introspection. What choices do we make in the daily routine of our lives? Are they good decisions that would cause the Lord to be with us and show us kindness or are the poor decisions that would drive the Creator God away from us?
Please be careful as we navigate the next few weeks. Make wise decisions for you and those you love. Take care of that next-door neighbor. Check on that elderly relative. Invest in your family as you have the opportunity. Maybe even start some new habits with your family...a family Bible study...or perhaps you need to start by just talking.
Regardless of what you do, be careful as temptation lurks, seeking you every day, waiting for you to give in, or flee. If you do the right thing and flee, there very well may be consequences that you will need to endure. You can endure as a believer as the Lord is with you and will show you kindness. For those who don't believe this may very well be the turning point for you as Holy Spirit is drawing you to make the decision to choose Jesus as Savior of your life.
Don't continue to live a life where you have to look over your shoulder as temptation waits...oh here she comes...
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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