Three Things...

That are so Awwesooooome that I just can't get over them!  You'll probably hear of them again from me before long.  I just can't get over them.

Thing #1 :: The way the floor shakes when the elders walk up the center aisle of the church in unison.  I wait for this, two times every week, as they're distributing the Lord's Supper.  For some reason it just gets to me!  I had to put it in a book, Allemande to be exact, because it was such a tangible thing.

            The organ sang out, the strains of the hymn rising into the high ceiling, echoing wonderfully down the nave.  I could almost feel the deep tones of the foot-pedals humming through the pew into my back.  Then the organ burst into a resounding chord and died away, leaving silence still colourful to my ears. 

            I caught a metallic clink from far behind me—the distinctive sound of a shining plate being passed.  Then the elders walked forward in unison, up the aisle toward the front of the church.

            I scooted forward on the pew until my feet reached the floor.  I laid the soles of my shoes flat against the stone and waited.  The six elders approached steadily, rank on rank of feet.  They passed our pew and the vibrations of their footsteps travelled into my feet.  I smiled broadly as they passed and settled back into the pew.

            Why did I like the feeling of all those feet marching solidly up the aisle?  I couldn’t explain it, but it seemed one of those odd pleasures allowed to me, since I couldn’t see.  Others had the way the daffodils’ stems bent at the head; the way pale green and pale pink looked so well together; the way snow glowed in the little shower of light from a lamppost.  I had the reverberating footsteps of the elders as they took the communion plates to the front.  It was almost enough. 

            When I was young, Mum made me a big, heavy book, bulging with thick pages.  It overflowed my lap when I opened it and spread my fingers on the page.  She pasted a bouquet of textile delights into the hefty paper.  Thick velvet, and rabbit pelt, and sandpapers of various coarseness.  A cool, sticky piece of flat silicone, a wrinkled piece of paper pulp, and a square of shaggy carpeting.  Leaves with distinct, raised veins, Chinese coins with holes in the middle, lumpy woollen yarn—every spread became an exploration. 

            I traced the embossed cover of the hymnal as I stood to sing the hymns I knew by heart.  And the echoes of my thoughts surged through me like the shaking of the floor under the feet of the ages.

Thing #2 :: Fences in the fields in the summer...

Man, a scene like that just makes me crazy...  When you're driving out (South until the streets stop!) and you get to a hillside with a big green field and a fence and a bunch of black cows... Maaaan.  That's it, I'm telling you.

Thing #3 :: The way the leaves rustling sounds just like the ocean...

I love the sea.  I love the Great Lakes.  I love little lakes.  I love cow ponds.  Okay, I love water, period.  But I live in landlocked Kansas.  Small problem, yes?  But it doesn't matter!  It makes all the difference when the spring finally comes and the trees leaf out at last.  It's amazing.

Anyway, so that's what I've been thinking about lately.  I've been writing Chapter 7 on and off while working on this post (pictures take for blooming ever to upload) and I think I've just finished it.  AND once again, I didn't actually get to the point I was hoping for (reporting to the Admiral) but it's already 1,000 words over my goal/limit.  So, I guess we'll arrive at the fort NEXT chapter!  *sighs*

AMZi x x x x x

It's Country

Scroll way down and turn off the playlist player before you play these videos ::

I am Unapologetic.  I love country music.  Many people my age say they don't like country at all, but I find this hard to swallow.  They must be joking, right?  What's not to love?  

One of the best things about country music is what a vessel it provides.  You think about it when you turn on your radio :: country artists work all sort of Christian values and even blatant, unashamed Christian lyrics into their songs.  For example :: A well-known song, "Down the Road" has a chorus that starts like this ::

Her mama wants to know / Am I washed in the blood / Or just in the water 

That's deep right there.  And nobody knifes Kenny Chesney [[although I did a double take when I saw who wrote it because it's so... good!  Sorry Kenny Chesney fans, I just can't stand him and his usually-raunchy songs]] about it.  It isn't plastered over the tabloids or the news, and he isn't blacklisted, and it's played on radios nation-wide.  Or Carrie Underwood's new song, "Temporary Home," which is embedded below ::





That's a pretty clear message, and yet it totally culturally acceptable.  Ironic that music is often the battleground for our culture's movements and revolutions...and yet it seems to be one of the last fortresses of our country's roots.  Only in country music can you find real, unashamed patriotism, value of human life, traditional morals, and really good guitar.... ;)  Seriously though.  


Not to say that there aren't a lot of really nawsty and raunchy songs out there.  A lot of the country music playing on today's radios is dodgy at best.  But personally, I've just learned to pinpoint the bands that have those tendencies (hence the shock at Kenny Chesney earlier...) and avoid them.  It's all just another area where you keep a guard on your spirit.  Obviously you should be careful of what you're feeding into your ears (or eyes, or mind, or heart), but that is no different from any other music you could be listening to.  


And for the most part there is such a good, clean, grassy pureness in country music.  I've grown up on it.  I can remember very clearly (and I have a TERRIBLE memory!) my car-seat days,  driving along when it's raining and asking Mom to turn off the radio and explain every single song.  "Mommy, why is that man so sad?"  "Well, his wife died and..."  Etcetera.  I bawled my eyes out, but it's a good memory now! :)


And it ain't just for country folks.  Heaven knows I'm a suburbanite and only inherit the "Cowboy in Me" (Tim McGraw, go listen to it) from el padre.  But my argument is embodied in "Hillbilly Bone," a song by Blake Shelton with Trace Adkins.  New stuff, old stuff, it's not all that different in the long run.  Grow up slow, with your eyes wide open, and grow up Country.  ;)


AMZi x x x x x