Formal to Normal

Everyone can enjoy praise and worship - especially if it's for other peoples happiness or for another really important person in your life...let's say...God. :) We generally, if we go to church, have some time to listen, some time to learn, some time to pray and some time to sing, but not everyone enjoys it. I'm not really talking about genre and song selection, some people just generally don't enjoy the act of singing in a public gathering kind of setup. I on the other hand will sing anywhere about anything, composed already or making it up on the spot. Putting words to a tune makes me happy. But singing can be made enjoyable for everyone, otherwise what's the point?

So we tried this with some teens the other day - your typically Friday night youth setup...

Hanging out, playing Pool, chatting about life, trying to get everyone to keep quiet, drinking cheap coffee (YuuuUUGGGh), teaching a digestable message. And then Boom! Let's try sing some songs. 

I think the idea is to make it as little intimidating as possible. So we turned off most of the lights, put the words up, and just sat around singing songs with an acoustic guitar and bongo. It felt campfireish! There's no pressure to sing if you don't want to, there's no pressure to look all spiritual or serious, and there's no pressure to sing in tune either. I'd like to use the word 'chilled', although it felt really warm, with that chilled effect.:)  Even a guy who really doesn't like singing time in church commented on how much he enjoyed it. 

I guess if you make worship singing as natural as it should be, it could be enjoyed a lot more. If singing time has a flavor different to life in general, it risks being super foreign to most people.

What's the point of this...? Well, maybe we try to formalise too much. 

'Hey everyone, now we will all stand and sing' 

'Now we will clap'

'Let's turn and say high to those sitting next to us'

Ever wondered how those guys in the movies can just break out into song mid-scene? And it's SO normal to everyone else around. So normal in fact that they all join in in either singing, dancing or tapping a foot! It's a normal part of the musical movie world. Maybe a lame example, but an example non the less. 

The more natural we make things like worship to God and encouraging others, maybe the more we'll see it in people's everyday lives. It would be cool to see people who worship and encourage in such a natural way. People who pray readily because prayer is not awkward when it's not announced or in my own private life. Not because it's the Christian thing to do or because the guy on stage told us to do it but because that's just how we function. 

Maybe we should start making the formal things more normal? Yes...?

Wistle While you Work

I woke up late, put on a pretty flower dress, and went out to Knead for breakfast. Besides getting my coffee in a cup rather than a mug (which I specifically asked them to do...gosh), it was a great and tasty morning. But when you get home and your other half leaves to go do other stuff, you realize how much there actually is to be done around the house. And so for most of the day I've been washing, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, folding, hanging and dusting! You'd think it would be helpful in this situation, to remember the fair faced bob bonnet princess (even though I find her most annoying and lame), Snow White. 

It would be most loverly if the birds and bunnies, squirrels and deer, would join me in my spring clean. But after whistling a few tunes and humming a melody or two, the only response from nature that I got was a puff of wind which blew my pile of sweeping across the floor again and the little white poodle next door who barked at me continuously as I hung out the washing! Maybe I have too much of a tan or my hair isn't quite dark enough, or maybe I don't hit a high enough pitch in my efforts to summon the forces of nature. 

So I guess this is how it will be. But then again, I'm glad I don't have to welcome 7 little stinky men into my house. I only need to cook and clean for 2. Who wants to be Snow White anyway?

Half Light

Athlete... So Cool! Here are some lyrics from their song 'Half Light'

The sun got stuck, as it's making it's way back down,
We find ourselves, in a familiar part of town

And all that I've seen means nothing to me without you

So when I see you next we'll make the most of it,
Tell the sun to start moving again,
The taste of your kiss I still got on my lips,
And ill take you there with me

Head crashed down, air conditioned myself to sleep,
The great night out, that will continue to the end of the week

And all that I've seen means nothing to me without you

So I'll be seeing him again on Thursday, and all that's left on my lips right now if the taste of wine! Ah, the sun, can it please move again!

Vanilla Rooibos

Do dooo doo! Okay so I invented a new drink – well maybe not invented because they sell these in the store... but mine is home-made and mmmmmm so much better!

1.       Boil water

2.       Place a rooibos tea bag into an easy and pleasing to hold mug

3.       Add a teaspoon of sugar

4.       Add a drop or two of vanilla essence

5.       Pour boiled water in until full

6.       Stir and leave to draw for a few moments

7.       Enjoy

Yum! I had 2 last night before bed and even if you don’t like the taste...the smell should send you on a most delightful journey of happiness! I mean seriously, who doesn’t like the subtle hinted smell of vanilla wafting past every now and then? So have a vanilla tea party...

Oh...and dunk in a most delicious Ouma Rusk if you’re feeling peckish. I have preference with the Buttermilk kind! Yum! It’s the little things in life that make each day (even if they consist of learning for tests) a little bit more enjoyable and satisfying. Go find your little thing...

20 Years of Snow

He's a wounded animal
He lives in a matchbox
He's a wounded animal
And he's been coming around here
He's a dying breed

His daughter is twenty years of snow falling
She's twenty years of strangers looking into each other's eyes
She's twenty years of clean
She never truly hated anyone or anything
She's a dying breed

She says I'd prefer the moss
I'd prefer the mouth
A baby of the swamps
A baby of the south
I'm twenty years of clean
And I never truly hated anyone or anything
Twenty years of clean

But I got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators with their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugarcubes

But I got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators with their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugarcubes

While you stare at your boots
And the words float out like holograms
They say, feel the waltz, feel the waltz
Come on, baby, baby, now feel the waltz

Samson

Once again I found myself listening to the classic lady of the ivory tinkles, Regina Spektor. She just sings the most gorgeous music complemeted with her sensitive, strong and emotional voice of clarity and depth. It's enough to get me into the perfect mood. Probably why I could concentrate in lectures today and ask intelligent questions (or so I thought).

I may not agree with her Theology however her song 'Samson' is absolutely stunning and it hits the heart every time. It's amazing how some people can look at life in such different ways. What is actually going through some peoples minds when they write stuff like that? What gets their thoughts to such a provoking level of intimacy and purity, where they can express their thoughts in a perfect portrait of poetry that can be understood by anyone who hears them. Clearly a talent I don't possess. If you understood what I just said then good on you! Listen to her, absorb it! *:) Especially Samson and The Call!

On a different foot...got my marks back today and they were GREAT! What a relief! Yay for good marks! *:) Check you all on the flip side! TIll next time...

Once upon a time

It was a most beautiful day in Norwegialand, day 4 of the roadtrip. Trying to get away from all the tourists they headed down a small road which was later found out to be a dead end road. After stopping to try sort out the scary noise that the car was making (the exhaust was about to fall off) they found a stunning spot next to a pool. All the snow left on the mountains was melting and there were hundreds of rivers and streams running down which really set the scene, a contrast of snow and green forests on the dramatic mountains. It was quiet a journey getting from the road side of the pool to the 'perfect' spot which seemed to be caught in a ray of heavenly light suspended above the sweet flowing waters from the mountains.

After sharing in a late morning breakfast picnic and drinking from the crystal waters he moved over and... bumped over the berry jam! A huge blob of red sticky jam lost to the ground, so she had to settle with chocolate spread! :)

Things calmed down after that and he moved again...this time onto his knee (ah so sweet). 'Jade', he said, 'Will you marry me?' 'Maybe,' she said, with a little smile across her lips. And before any more words were said he twirled her finger with a piece of string, sealing it with a bow, just as was expected. To her surprise he pulled out a necklace made of string as well, 'I made you a necklace too!' he said, and slipped it over her head. As she looked down she saw a shiny ring hanging down from it.

They embraced

They kissed

She giggled... a lot... out of surprisedness

They kissed

He slipped the ring over her finger as she pulled the string away

They kissed

They spent the rest of the morning sitting in the sunlight looking out over the pool of water and across the mountains, before continuing on their journey through the valley, to the dead end and back, through tunnels and to Geiranger where they only just escaped the clutches of the tourists and then beside a stunning blue icy lake.

They shared an interesting pizza in a nearby town and settled down again at the waters edge with a tent and some fresh water fishing and a good nights sleep...in the land of the midnight sun!