AI-Stained Glass with Music Notes by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA)
I could blog for days on some of my favorite songs, both in hymns and secular music. It’s probably why I like the band, ApologetiX so much because that gives me hymns with the tunes of my secular faves. But for tonight, I want to talk about gathering with people who love The Lord and singing praises to Him. The greatest love is from God to us, so the greatest love songs should be from us to Him.
Now, when I hear the words “community hymn sing,” I’m pretty certain it’s going to be hymns sung by the whole community. I expect a “turn to page 1234” moment where we all pick up a song book and sing together. Of course, most have replaced the song books with overhead lyrics on beautiful backgrounds, but you get the idea. We all worship The Lord with good old-fashioned songs that tell of our love for Him.
But that’s not what happened when we attended the first one for our community. Instead, there were different groups playing and singing, no lyrics for the congregation, and me wondering whether it was okay to sing along. Did I enjoy it? Yes! It was all my kind of music, and most people wanted folks to sing with them. And despite not having the lyrics available, I was surprised at how many I knew by heart.
So, though both my husband and I would’ve preferred what we expected to find there, it does bring up something important. Why did I know so many of the lyrics even without them in front of my eyes? Because I’ve sung them to The Lord for so many years, they’ve become a part of me. This is what Proverbs is talking about when it says to “Train up a child in the way he should go.” It’s not a promised guarantee that a child raised to love and honor Christ will never depart, but if the practice is modeled before them and instilled in them, there’s an excellent chance that what’s been instilled will never depart. And that means, if the child grows up and grows distant from The Lord, there’s a well of memory within him or her which can be tapped into when they are ready.
I had my time of doing things my own way, but teachings and music from my own childhood were a well in me that I’ve tapped into many times since giving my whole life to Christ as a young woman. If you’ve got children, or grandchildren, or nieces and nephews (as was the case for me and my husband when we raised 4 nephews for 5 years), use every opportunity to put something into that well for them. One day, when they realize they’re running dry, what you’ve placed into them could save their soul. You’ll know it and be filled with joy when you hear them singing their own old fashioned love song to their Creator. I’m still hoping and praying for that day because I want all of us worshiping God together for eternity.
And, now, here’s one of my favorite songs from my time in Missionettes as a little girl. It’s called “Pass It On” and the lyrics can still make me cry.
When I read more about Leah today, from Genesis 30:14 through Genesis 30:27, I feel heartbroken for her. She has had four children, she has had two in proxy through her servant girl, but she still feels unloved. When her son collects some mandrakes from the field (thought to be translated from Hebrew meaning “love plant”), Rachael asks Leah if she can have some to help with her infertility. Leah gets upset and accuses Rachael of trying to steal her son as she has done with her husband. So Rachael makes a deal with Leah to exchange some of the fruit for Leah to have her husband back in her bed with her.
After all is said and done, Leah conceives and bares three more children, two boys and girl. She gives Jacob Isaachar (hired/reward), Zebulun (dwelling) and Dinah. When she named Zebulun, she said, “Maybe now that I have given him six children, my husband will live with me.” Finally, after Leah had her three new babies, Rachael finally conceived and gave birth to Joseph meaning “may He add” and hoping this was the end of her infertility and disgrace.
Both of these women had so much pain. Leah was unloved and lonely, and Rachael was infertile and felt rejected by God. But they were sisters. They could have loved each other and been there for each other through everything they went through. Leah could have cared for her sister’s infertility and invited her to help raise her nephews and nieces, but she was so bitter about the fact that her husband really wanted to be with her sister (and had actually married her in ceremony) that she did not care for her sister’s pain. I wonder if she had drawn closer to her sister, would she have felt less lonely? And I wonder if Rachael had cared more for her sister’s inability to change how their husband felt about her, and her inability to change the looks she was born with, would Leah have tried to spend more time with her. It seems that bitterness and envy made both of them lonelier and restricted both of them to lives without love of one kind or other–be it without a husband in the dwelling or without a child to raise.
Hebrews 12:15 talks about the root of bitterness and the torment that comes with it. I think feeling like you are living a life without any love in it would certainly fall under the definition of torment. But since the chapter ends with Jacob finishing his work for Laban and asking to return to his homeland with all his wives and children, maybe there is hope that once they all live together, the sisters can find love for each other again.
Crystal is, like her name, multi-faceted. She can even write about herself in third person and only feel a little awkward about it. 🙂 She loves to write; she loves kaleidoscopes, fractals, and all things colorful; she loves her husband, her family, and her feline furkids; and mostly she loves Yahveh Almighty, her Creator. She believes her creative mind is in her DNA from Him, and she believes He sees His creations as she sees the images inside a kaleidoscope–all different yet all beautiful and most beautiful when light (His light) shines through them.
Crystal Writes A Blog 
Lives Without Love
When I read more about Leah today, from Genesis 30:14 through Genesis 30:27, I feel heartbroken for her. She has had four children, she has had two in proxy through her servant girl, but she still feels unloved. When her son collects some mandrakes from the field (thought to be translated from Hebrew meaning “love plant”), Rachael asks Leah if she can have some to help with her infertility. Leah gets upset and accuses Rachael of trying to steal her son as she has done with her husband. So Rachael makes a deal with Leah to exchange some of the fruit for Leah to have her husband back in her bed with her.
After all is said and done, Leah conceives and bares three more children, two boys and girl. She gives Jacob Isaachar (hired/reward), Zebulun (dwelling) and Dinah. When she named Zebulun, she said, “Maybe now that I have given him six children, my husband will live with me.” Finally, after Leah had her three new babies, Rachael finally conceived and gave birth to Joseph meaning “may He add” and hoping this was the end of her infertility and disgrace.
Both of these women had so much pain. Leah was unloved and lonely, and Rachael was infertile and felt rejected by God. But they were sisters. They could have loved each other and been there for each other through everything they went through. Leah could have cared for her sister’s infertility and invited her to help raise her nephews and nieces, but she was so bitter about the fact that her husband really wanted to be with her sister (and had actually married her in ceremony) that she did not care for her sister’s pain. I wonder if she had drawn closer to her sister, would she have felt less lonely? And I wonder if Rachael had cared more for her sister’s inability to change how their husband felt about her, and her inability to change the looks she was born with, would Leah have tried to spend more time with her. It seems that bitterness and envy made both of them lonelier and restricted both of them to lives without love of one kind or other–be it without a husband in the dwelling or without a child to raise.
Hebrews 12:15 talks about the root of bitterness and the torment that comes with it. I think feeling like you are living a life without any love in it would certainly fall under the definition of torment. But since the chapter ends with Jacob finishing his work for Laban and asking to return to his homeland with all his wives and children, maybe there is hope that once they all live together, the sisters can find love for each other again.
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November 12, 2013 Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Adonai, Almighty, Bible, Bible Gateway, Bible reading, Bible study, bitterness, childbirth, children, Complete Jewish Bible, Creator, crystalwriter, Dinah, dwelling, envy, Genesis, Genesis 30, God, Hebrews, Holy Bible, home, homeland, infertility, Isaachar, Jacob, Joseph, Laban, Leah, living, Lord, love, Old Covenant, Old Testament, Parashah, Portions, Rachael, root of bitterness, Scripture, The Complete Jewish Bible, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, torment, unloved, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, www.biblegateway.com, Yaakov, Yahveh, Yahweh, Zebulun | Leave a comment