When my mother was much younger maybe in her 60’s I used to notice her busy doing a project, then all of a sudden a song would come on the radio. Her stoic feet would begin to tap, her backside would sway and before long , she would break into a joyous dance. Music can gives us chills, make us cry and sooth our hearts. Studies done at the University of London by Nidhya Logeswaran and Joydeep Bhattacharya proved that music may make us see visual images differently, happy music was shown to cause people to view visual images as happier, and sad music wrote a visual story of a sadder nature. A quote from their study, ” music is exquisitely emotionally evocative”- almost as if music contains some distinctly human elements. Music repatriation goes back to an early “seventeenth century usage applied to living bodies. Repatriation itself is derived from Latin which means” back to one’s fatherland”.(Gunderson, F, and Woods, B. “Handbook of Musical Repatriation”.

What is a human element of music? One is our expressive speech, which may be just as abstract as the diversity of language throughout different cultures. However, most of the emotion of language is in the meaning which is different from culture to culture. Knowing how much my mom loved music , she would have most likely kicked up her feet to drums from any country. I love the hit Linda Ronstadt recorded, Different Drummer. The first line says “You and I travel to the beat of a different drum, Ah can’t you tell by the way I run every time you make eyes at me……” We may not all celebrate music in the same language or with the same emotions, but music expresses something human that each of us may find refreshing in many different ways. This post is dedicated to my mother who was the reason music is in our family.

There was a woman at the well who came to get water for her animals and there at the well, she met Jesus. She had been through a lot, a rough life some might say. She came to the well looking for water that would quench a natural thirst, but instead she received a living water, water that would cause her to never thirst again. You may find this story in John 4:1-42. This woman had never been truly accepted not by man or by her community, she was never given truth and most important of all, she had never been redeemed. Jesus did not know the woman in life but He had Godly revelation about what had happened to her in the past , after Jesus shared with her things that only she knew and had never shared with Him or anyone, her eyes were opened to His truth. Once we drink of His living water , His acceptance, His truth, and then choose to believe in Him and make Him Lord of our life; we receive His forgiveness and redemption, and we will never thirst again. This story reminds me that Jesus is our Living Water and that He desires for everyone to believe in Him, come to Him for redemption. He willingly died for all of our sins, rose again to his heavenly Father for each one of us. This Easter remember what He sacrificed for us.

He makes our lives so full that we may never thirst again.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate ; only love can do that." Martin Luther King Jr.

In Genesis 1:1-3 It is written : In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was barren, with no form of life; it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness. But the Spirit of God was moving over the water. God said , “I command light to shine!” And light started shining. The quote posted above by Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my favorite quotes. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that….” Imagine yourself in a very dark room trying to add more light by opening the blinds to a pitch black night, no light will be added to the already dark room. One only needs to light a tiny candle in that dark room and it begins to dispel all darkness. Today is a very dark time in many lives depending on what each of your circumstances are. Martin Luther King Jr. was a history maker he instilled light where there was much darkness, love where hate had prevailed. My heart breaks to think if he were here to see the state of this world . He sacrificed so much for the cause of civil rights and freedom. He once quoted , ” We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” MLK

People seemed to have lost their way, trying to burn down the history that has made us who we are today. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of God. He knew that his light comes from the one who came to bring light into a dark world. In John 1:1:3,4,5 it says “And with this Word, God created all things. Nothing was made without the Word. Everything that was created received its life from Him, and His life gave light to everyone. The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out.” We need the light of Christ in our world today, ask Him to come to you and transform your life by becoming Lord and light of your life.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

Have you ever asked yourself “Who or what has wildered me?” All of us were sheep that wandered off. We had each gone our own way but the Lord gave Him the punishment we deserved. Isaiah 53:6

Even when I did not know the depth of my bewilderment, the dark places that I had wandered off to, Jesus knew where I was , what I had done , and yet- He still took on all the pain of my past, the mistakes that I had made, things I had messed up royally; and He forgave me and accepted me as His own. Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. 2Corinthians 5:17, vs18 God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between Himself and us, and He has given us the work of making peace between Himself and others. This is the reason that I write this post.

It is never too late to surrender all things that hold you back from becoming His own, give them to Christ . Invite Jesus to be Lord of your life and to fill you with His Spirit. He will forgive you of everything , and as the word says, He makes all things new.