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I actually got some pretty nice Christmas gifts this year. Not that that's highly unusual--although I was rather amazed at the amounts of expensive chocolate my students gave me (my family enjoyed it!)--but it was one of those years when I could tell people weren't just getting gifts to check me off their list, they were actually thinking of
me.
I got one gift about four years ago that was like that. It wasn't at Christmas. It was early March, just after the guy 'd been thinking about for months asked if I would date him. I was in my dorm room when one of the upperclassmen, brought it in. It was from Mike, and it was a single blue rose in a blue vase. I don't know how he got it blue, but he knew I liked it and so he surprised me with it. Not a big thing, but it expressed that he was thinking of me and that I was special. We only dated a few months (still friends) but I still have the rose. It was a gift that stood out.
I received another one of those this year. Last winter was a hard one for me. I was dealing with some weird things, emotionally and spiritually, and the dark of the winter months affected me like I never realized it could. Though most of those battles are well past their turning point now, lack of light still brings back that shadow of internal darkness.
When I moved to Illinois, Katie and I looked at a bunch of apartments and chose a model together, but as far as picking our speciic building, we just had to circle a number on the complex map. And there was only one of our model left, so we didn't have much choice! However: our apartment does not have white walls like the rest of them. i'm not really sure what color they are but it's kind of a neutral with a shade of tan and a touch of yellow. Not enough color to overwhelm the room, but enough that even when outside is dark, inside always looks bright and warm. And, i am not entirely sure how this happens, but my room and the living room get full light almost from sunrise to sundown.
A little thing, okay, and maybe I'm the only one that can understand why it's a big deal. But my house is light! And I am convinced that God gave me that because He loves me.
Alexander, worship, and kazoos
My exciting discoveries over Christmas break are as follows:
1. Alexander technique, and in general the concept that our bodies are designed to wrok well! Except that, in general, most of us--myself included--don't think too hard about how to actually use them. As a result, we have back pains, neck pains, sloppy posture, tight violin shoulders (yes, everything relates back to violin). It's all because we don't realize how to capitalize on the design God put in us so that we can function efficiently AND comfortably. this may sound like everything your parents told you when they tried to teach you good posture but seriously, I am so excited to be learning about this stuff and here's why: in the book I am reading on Alexander technique, I'm learning about my bones and my muscles. where thye exist, what they do. It's called "body mapping." Half our problems comes from having an imprecise or incorrect body map--we have an unclear idea of how our bodies are designed, so we're trying to do things with muscles that aren't there, or we're working too hard because there are joints and support systems that ARE there but we don't realize it. If that doesn't make sense ask me, or do some research but it is well worth looking into! (I have been trying for years to figure out how my singing voice is actually supposed to work and this stuff is finally making sense of it!) Also quite related to Pilates principles, I think. But here's the quote that I completely love, which Barbara Conable (the author of this book,
How to Learn Alexander Technique) calls the "Creation Imperative":
(actually she calls it "rthe Creation Imperative or the Evolution Imperative, take you choice"....I took mine)
"The structure of the whole body can be explained by the necessity to arrive at a violinist."
Think twice about that if you have to. I love it!
2. I am going to shorten this one because the last one is long and because I'll probably come back to it someday, and because words can't quite communicate the life of it anyway. But, I have to say:
God is incredible
He is worthy of all worship
Worshiping Him is not boring, it is beautiful and it truly is a believer's highest pursuit
Can you really imagine, once there was nothingness and it became earth and everything in it.
God was before it. He never started, He just was, always. He came up with all that is.
and He has placed in us His image--so there is that in us which can recognize, understand, and love Him.
i love it when truth comes to life
3. Kazoos are very cool and you can use them to teach singing voice. When I told me roommate that it confirmed in her mind that I am an eccentric music nerd. Hey well, I won't argue :)
