Sunshine In My Soul

Thankful {Day 2}....

Today I'm grateful for music. I'm thankful for how it makes me feel. When I'm feeling sad or discouraged, I turn on some of my favorite "church-y" singers, like Hilary Weeks, Jenny Jordan Frogley or Mindy Gledhill. I listen to some of Hilary's beautiful songs like "If I Only Had Today" or "Just Let Me Cry" (if you click on Hilary's name and scroll to the bottom, you can take a listen for yourself). Sometimes when I'm driving, all alone, and I need a good cry, I'll turn them on, turn the volume way up and just let those tears fall. Man it feels good.

Or there are times when I just need a little bit of motivation to scrub down the floors and counters and walls, so I'll turn on the iPod and it instantly gets me in the mood for some good ole cleaning. Or goodness...there are those days when I FORCE myself to go running and the tunes on my ipod are the ONLY thing that get me going. Man, oh man, I HATE to run!

I'm thankful that I can play this...

Now, I can't play it like I used to. I heard once before (or maybe twice or maybe even a thousand times)..."If you don't use it, you loose it". Yah, well I've lost a LOT. I used to be able to play some amazing pieces. For now, I'll play maybe a couple of times a month. Sometimes the kids will come in, and I'll let my fingers fly while they dance around the front room like crazy out of control monkeys. It's fun! And deep down inside I hope and pray that one or two or three or four of my children will love to play as much as I do!

Last night it was my turn to teach the lesson for Family Home Evening. I'd been noticing at church, that the children often were not participating in singing the hymns and it made me sad. Sometimes they'd just rest their head in their hands, other times they'd be drawing or making faces at the person next to them. I decided to teach them about the importance of singing the hymns. I started with a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants 25:12: "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." We discussed what we thought the verse meant. Then each of the children took a turn randomly choosing a number. We'd open up the hymn book, read through the words of the hymn, and discuss the meaning. We talked about how we feel inside when we sing songs like "I Believe in Christ" and "We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet". I love feeling the Spirit and Heavenly Father's love through music. I am grateful for music!!!