Good morning. Thank you for the kind birthday greetings. I am not a very good blog member. I have been feeling quite overwhelmed with all that is happening around me. Between Dr appts, work, farm, and family, I cannot keep up. I did get our taxes sent to the bookkeeper. Now to pay the tax bill. Once that is done, it should be a big stressor off my back.
The weather has really thrown us off. It has been in the 80s here. Usually, we are overwhelmed with wind this time of year. Miguel wanted to fire up the air conditioner. I said NO! I know we will get snow again in April. I have gone ahead and started to water the garden. Our peach tree has bloomed, and frozen, and bloomed some more. The rhubarb is coming on, garlic is green and growing, with walking onion coming on. Strawberries are greening up. No blooms yet. Haven’t seen any asparagus yet either.
I am happy to hear how well Annie is doing. Sorry to hear about AJs father. Hope that Janice’s brother is tolerating his dialysis. Miguel got an acute kidney injury following his surgery. Still following with the nephrologist. They think it will resolve.
RKessler, when I worked in Chicago, they would switch between air conditioning and heat just once, and back again just once. And they’d do the switch to air conditioning ridiculously early in the year, like “Oh, it’s 68 degrees, and tomorrow is March 1, so I suppose we need air conditioning now,” and of course we’d have many weeks before it would be reliably spring weather, and we’d only have one or two warmish days and then a whole lot more cold ones, but congrats people, we’re not running heat anymore, so you’d better bring your warm clothes.
That sounded like M. I am not sure if fertilizer makes a difference in the sweetness of strawberries. Have you found that to be true before? Curious about it.
We are back to cold now after one wonderfully warm day. No one should be surprised, of course. We will have a lot of branches to get off the lawn this spring before mowing. The winds have been something.
I am looking forward to blossoms. It is a gray time of year here. The pines look a grayish green. The lawns do not look green yet and dirty snow, littered with needles etc. lay in piles all around. The streets are dirty with debris and gravel. There are no street sweepers out and about yet. Our dirt road was in danger of being flooded in parts, but the cold stopped that. The cold is good for that. There is the silver lining.
we had a church business meeting yesterday. A very good turnout. Also a time to comment and ask questions
the very last subject was music. One of our services was traditional and they made them both the same last year. God gave me a message and I sat there praying about speaking. I did. After I spoke there was applause and cheers. I have never been so encouraged
when the meeting ended some folks hurried over to speak to me
later that evening I felt God saying that this is a battle and I need to prepare. I went and took notes as I will forget what I said
during church yesterday I could not worship with the repetitive choruses so I picked up the hymnal and just read hymns. Such depth of theology in the lyrics.
they ended with How Great Thou art. One of the few hymns this team likes
Thankful, Jo, that God was giving you His strength to rise to the occasion and be the spokeswoman for the silent majority. You chose the better thing to read words in the hymnal.
QOD What is your definition of Worship music? Is there a difference between worship, praise and sing along music?
There are varied differences in our preferences but I have been struggling since our Worship leader left the church. The elder who now leads singing is so hard to take for me. His song selection has made to where I want to come in late for just the sermon and leave before the last song. Just curious what others find as “worship” as opposed to sing along sing about type of songs.
When I look out over those in attendance there is not a smile not a look of anyone worshipping, Rather it seems robotic as everyone is engaged in singing a dirge…..
Worship music, it seems to me, would be making a pleasing sound to the Lord for starters, and that most likely would include harmony and not dissonance. It would include declarations about God’s awesome being and how there is nothing else known to be like Him or on scale with Him.
As for repetition . . . HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. I think that indicates it works for Him, but He also wants a new song, which can be an old hymn because it was a new song created after the Psalms. I think the Psalms give a big clue as to what God finds pleasing. They are the perfect example.
I think a lot of churches are struggling to find worship leaders and people to be in worship bands. Part of it may be staffing decisions, not wanting to lower ministry salaries to put more into the worship salaries. I have seen this happen, from my point of view, more than once.
According to this piece, there is a difference between praise and worship:
~ “Praise is the joyful recounting of all God has done for us. It is closely intertwined with thanksgiving as we offer back to God appreciation for His mighty works on our behalf. Praise can be a feature of other relationships as well. We can praise our family, friends, boss, or paperboy. Praise does not require anything of us. It is merely the truthful acknowledgment of the righteous acts of another. Since God has done many wonderful deeds, He is worthy of praise (Psalm 18:3).
Worship comes from a different place within our spirits. Worship should be reserved for God alone (Luke 4:8). Worship is the art of losing self in the adoration of another. Praise can be a part of worship, but worship goes beyond praise. Praise is easy; worship is not. Worship gets to the heart of who we are. To truly worship God, we must let go of our self-worship. We must be willing to humble ourselves before God, surrender every part of our lives to His control, and adore Him for who He is, not just what He has done. Worship is a lifestyle, not just an occasional activity. Jesus said the Father is seeking those who will worship Him “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).” ~
When it comes to praising God, rather than praising people or whatnot, I don’t quite agree with this sentence: “Praise does not require anything of us.” The Bible refers to “a sacrifice of praise.” To me, the praise we give to God is on a different level than the praise we give to others, and it requires turning our hearts to Him in faith.
I am blessed to attend a church that sings songs that extol God’s greatness, goodness, love, faithfulness, etc.
*******
Janice – Our late kitty Rudy was quite small for at least his first two years, then he began to grow more, and ended up being a fairly large kitty. It was quite surprising, because they are supposed to be fully grown by two years old.
Thanks for that input Janice. I find Holy Holy Holy a very worshipful hymn….
I suppose I am rather odd but I don’t just jump in and sing the words of others in worship….even hymns. I also dislike very much being told to “repeat after me” in church….
Now the Psalms would be a very different instance for me. At times David speaks to our Lord in first person directly then other times speaks “of Him”. Miriam does the same in her song of praise. Most of the songs sung in our church…99.9% of the time is singing “of” Him. Some are declarations “I have decided to follow Jesus”…”The Joy of the Lord is my Strength” (believe me when they sang that yesterday there was not a joyful face in the room)…but I won’t say they weren’t singing with joy in their heart…
I guess I’m just trying to figure out why I am so disturbed with this new sing song time at my church. It may have started when he selected a song to sing which focused on Mary as divine not mentioning Christ….we figured it was a catholic song…not sure where it came from.
It certainly doesn’t feel like a gathering of worshiping together. I do worship alone at home all the time….and to be clear I do like many of the more contemporary worship songs as well as some hymns.
Thanks for that post Kizzie. I guess I’m seeing a lot of “me” in some of the songs sung and not that of “unto Him” in worship…and I’m missing that in the fellowship of believers.
I have seen a butterfly today and yesterday. A few years back I did not see one even in summer. This is good! I did as told and raked all my leaves so creatures could winter over in them and not end up as chopped mulch in the grass catcher. Perhaps people did that this year and I am seeing the results! The lady I walked with last season said she was doing that, too.
Wandering Views 
Good morning. Thank you for the kind birthday greetings. I am not a very good blog member. I have been feeling quite overwhelmed with all that is happening around me. Between Dr appts, work, farm, and family, I cannot keep up. I did get our taxes sent to the bookkeeper. Now to pay the tax bill. Once that is done, it should be a big stressor off my back.
The weather has really thrown us off. It has been in the 80s here. Usually, we are overwhelmed with wind this time of year. Miguel wanted to fire up the air conditioner. I said NO! I know we will get snow again in April. I have gone ahead and started to water the garden. Our peach tree has bloomed, and frozen, and bloomed some more. The rhubarb is coming on, garlic is green and growing, with walking onion coming on. Strawberries are greening up. No blooms yet. Haven’t seen any asparagus yet either.
I am happy to hear how well Annie is doing. Sorry to hear about AJs father. Hope that Janice’s brother is tolerating his dialysis. Miguel got an acute kidney injury following his surgery. Still following with the nephrologist. They think it will resolve.
LikeLiked by 3 people
RKessler, when I worked in Chicago, they would switch between air conditioning and heat just once, and back again just once. And they’d do the switch to air conditioning ridiculously early in the year, like “Oh, it’s 68 degrees, and tomorrow is March 1, so I suppose we need air conditioning now,” and of course we’d have many weeks before it would be reliably spring weather, and we’d only have one or two warmish days and then a whole lot more cold ones, but congrats people, we’re not running heat anymore, so you’d better bring your warm clothes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good morning all from warm Atlanta (for a moment). Cold weather blows in later today.
Pumpkin came for breakfast this morning. It remains a petite black cat. I thought it was kitten age, around 9 months, but now I wonder.
The azaleas are full of blooms. They are a delight.
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This book sounds g ood:
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/steven-curtis-and-mary-beth-chapman-still-here-despite-marriage-struggles/
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We ate asparagus from the garden Saturday night. All 8 sprigs!
strawberries are starting to bud, I’ve been fertilizing them hoping for sweeter berries this year.
I start traveling soon, for a lot of the next three months, so have debated planting the garden now in our unseasonably warm early spring.
I’d put in seeds, but we have too many cats who like the garden bed, sigh.
Drought is looming. We should probably flush the gray water lines if we want anything from the garden this year.
Currently, the strawberries seem to get most of that water.
sigh.
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oh, that was M
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That sounded like M. I am not sure if fertilizer makes a difference in the sweetness of strawberries. Have you found that to be true before? Curious about it.
We are back to cold now after one wonderfully warm day. No one should be surprised, of course. We will have a lot of branches to get off the lawn this spring before mowing. The winds have been something.
I am looking forward to blossoms. It is a gray time of year here. The pines look a grayish green. The lawns do not look green yet and dirty snow, littered with needles etc. lay in piles all around. The streets are dirty with debris and gravel. There are no street sweepers out and about yet. Our dirt road was in danger of being flooded in parts, but the cold stopped that. The cold is good for that. There is the silver lining.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That is a good article, Janice, and something young marrieds need to know.
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morning all
we had a church business meeting yesterday. A very good turnout. Also a time to comment and ask questions
the very last subject was music. One of our services was traditional and they made them both the same last year.
God gave me a message and I sat there praying about speaking. I did. After I spoke there was applause and cheers. I have never been so encouraged
when the meeting ended some folks hurried over to speak to me
later that evening I felt God saying that this is a battle and I need to prepare. I went and took notes as I will forget what I said
during church yesterday I could not worship with the repetitive choruses so I picked up the hymnal and just read hymns. Such depth of theology in the lyrics.
they ended with How Great Thou art. One of the few hymns this team likes
jo
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thankful, Jo, that God was giving you His strength to rise to the occasion and be the spokeswoman for the silent majority. You chose the better thing to read words in the hymnal.
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Temps in the sixties here today. Fire still blazing at Ft Carson. We too have drought and fires on our minds…
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QOD What is your definition of Worship music? Is there a difference between worship, praise and sing along music?
There are varied differences in our preferences but I have been struggling since our Worship leader left the church. The elder who now leads singing is so hard to take for me. His song selection has made to where I want to come in late for just the sermon and leave before the last song. Just curious what others find as “worship” as opposed to sing along sing about type of songs.
When I look out over those in attendance there is not a smile not a look of anyone worshipping, Rather it seems robotic as everyone is engaged in singing a dirge…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good question, NJ.
Worship music, it seems to me, would be making a pleasing sound to the Lord for starters, and that most likely would include harmony and not dissonance. It would include declarations about God’s awesome being and how there is nothing else known to be like Him or on scale with Him.
As for repetition . . . HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. I think that indicates it works for Him, but He also wants a new song, which can be an old hymn because it was a new song created after the Psalms. I think the Psalms give a big clue as to what God finds pleasing. They are the perfect example.
I think a lot of churches are struggling to find worship leaders and people to be in worship bands. Part of it may be staffing decisions, not wanting to lower ministry salaries to put more into the worship salaries. I have seen this happen, from my point of view, more than once.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I won’t be flying anywhere unless I get captured!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EitvXo3Xm/
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I wrote raptured!
LikeLiked by 2 people
According to this piece, there is a difference between praise and worship:
~ “Praise is the joyful recounting of all God has done for us. It is closely intertwined with thanksgiving as we offer back to God appreciation for His mighty works on our behalf. Praise can be a feature of other relationships as well. We can praise our family, friends, boss, or paperboy. Praise does not require anything of us. It is merely the truthful acknowledgment of the righteous acts of another. Since God has done many wonderful deeds, He is worthy of praise (Psalm 18:3).
Worship comes from a different place within our spirits. Worship should be reserved for God alone (Luke 4:8). Worship is the art of losing self in the adoration of another. Praise can be a part of worship, but worship goes beyond praise. Praise is easy; worship is not. Worship gets to the heart of who we are. To truly worship God, we must let go of our self-worship. We must be willing to humble ourselves before God, surrender every part of our lives to His control, and adore Him for who He is, not just what He has done. Worship is a lifestyle, not just an occasional activity. Jesus said the Father is seeking those who will worship Him “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).” ~
https://www.gotquestions.org/difference-praise-worship.html
When it comes to praising God, rather than praising people or whatnot, I don’t quite agree with this sentence: “Praise does not require anything of us.” The Bible refers to “a sacrifice of praise.” To me, the praise we give to God is on a different level than the praise we give to others, and it requires turning our hearts to Him in faith.
I am blessed to attend a church that sings songs that extol God’s greatness, goodness, love, faithfulness, etc.
*******
Janice – Our late kitty Rudy was quite small for at least his first two years, then he began to grow more, and ended up being a fairly large kitty. It was quite surprising, because they are supposed to be fully grown by two years old.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀 I wondered what you meant by “captured.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for that input Janice. I find Holy Holy Holy a very worshipful hymn….
I suppose I am rather odd but I don’t just jump in and sing the words of others in worship….even hymns. I also dislike very much being told to “repeat after me” in church….
Now the Psalms would be a very different instance for me. At times David speaks to our Lord in first person directly then other times speaks “of Him”. Miriam does the same in her song of praise. Most of the songs sung in our church…99.9% of the time is singing “of” Him. Some are declarations “I have decided to follow Jesus”…”The Joy of the Lord is my Strength” (believe me when they sang that yesterday there was not a joyful face in the room)…but I won’t say they weren’t singing with joy in their heart…
I guess I’m just trying to figure out why I am so disturbed with this new sing song time at my church. It may have started when he selected a song to sing which focused on Mary as divine not mentioning Christ….we figured it was a catholic song…not sure where it came from.
It certainly doesn’t feel like a gathering of worshiping together. I do worship alone at home all the time….and to be clear I do like many of the more contemporary worship songs as well as some hymns.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for that post Kizzie. I guess I’m seeing a lot of “me” in some of the songs sung and not that of “unto Him” in worship…and I’m missing that in the fellowship of believers.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I have seen a butterfly today and yesterday. A few years back I did not see one even in summer. This is good! I did as told and raked all my leaves so creatures could winter over in them and not end up as chopped mulch in the grass catcher. Perhaps people did that this year and I am seeing the results! The lady I walked with last season said she was doing that, too.
LikeLike