Category Archives: Christian Living

Sacrificial Giving

Posted on by

0


Image

Photo courtesy of New South Wales Library

I’m not sure we (self included) really understand the concept of sacrifice.  It’s supposed to hurt us, pain us, cause us to ache.  So why don’t we feel that?  Probably because oftentimes we’ve never hurt for much in our lives or had really “consider the cost” when purchasing something or saving for material goods.

Sacrifice requires that we give up something very dear to us.  But often sacrifice, to me, has usually been whatever I felt I could give or what was comfortable to me.  But that is not how sacrifice works.  David said in the OT, “I won’t give to the Lord what costs me nothing.”  Are we that bold to speak such words of conviction?  Affection requires little, while love demands sacrifice.  Do I love God enough to say I trust Him? Think long and seriously before you answer that…. And when he says, I gave you a gift, and I want it back now (whatever capacity it be in), do I say no way or Your Will be done.  And sometimes it is like pulling teeth to get us out of ourselves to see the light of self-sacrifice.  My friends, what is required of you will be something you love so dearly that your tender, aching fingers are clenching it so tightly while you are begging God not to take it from you.  You may spend moments or nights in tears asking why, why He has taken what you loved?  The truest form of a trusting heart is one that is able to eventually say “take it Lord if you see fit.”  Have I gotten there?  Not yet.  Speaking to other musicians out there, it’s amazing how tightly we cling to something we want to define our being.  We’re selfish.  We’re whining babies.  And we want the glory all to ourselves.   This is a huge part of our walk with God- that we learn that it isn’t about us, the world doesn’t revolve around our wants and desires (contrary to popular American culture) and that love isn’t some fanciful, whimsical anthropology ad, facebook album or advertisement like we are spoonfed to believe.  True love doesn’t always look pristine.  It’s gritty.  It’s getting your hands in the dirty with others’ residue.  It’s sticking your neck out for someone.  It’s rubbing elbows with the less fortunate of society.  It’s being uncool to show kindness.  It’s sacrifice of self and more than you ever thought it would be when you agreed to follow Him years ago.

~lme

A mind with a view

Posted on by

0


Image

Jessie Woodrow- thanks to this organization 

After listening to some thoughts from people last week, I realized that our whole perspective on life is really twisted.  We, and I, live in fear of aging of dying and leaving this world, but it shouldn’t be this way.  We should see our lives as the portal into eternity.  What if I always viewed my life that way?  I might not get so upset at people or worry so much about trying to make my mark or prove myself to this slowly vanishing existence.   I struggle with looking forward to death.  How many of us do- in a positive way I mean? Realizing that ultimately if we’ve only been spent by and for ourselves, we’ve really not left much of a legacy here.

It’s like a funnel, this life.  It’s only siphoning us into a much larger world of eternal existence.  I can’t imagine what that’s like and frankly, it freaks me out sometimes and I have to stop thinking about it.  I think the unknown scares me.  I think sometimes I fear I’ll be bored forever.  But I heard an uplifting sermon recently that talked about how heaven will be eternal bliss.  That feeling of newness and excitement continually overpouring like a fountain.  Trusting God is something I have to work at.  I need to remind myself that he made me and knows me and wants good for me and knows exactly how to fulfill me.  I have to remember that the reasons I groan and ache here are because I am not at home with Him.  At times, I get too comfortable here- thus the problem with our poshy lifestyles.  It’s probably helpful to get out of that comfort zone more than we reside in it.

In conjunction with the end of your life is the perspective of the rest of your life.  It is interesting to realize what defines you when you start to strip earthly things away.  If you weren’t able to paint your body like a canvas with tattoos or the latest trend in the fashion industry or do your hair in a specific way or stand behind an instrument every night or shell out your fancy business cards, what would you look like?  Would your character speak volumes about who you are?  I am blessed to have several people who have reminded me of this recently.  These “about us” things really are just tangents to who we truly are.  Sometimes it’s easy to let our material goods and talents define us.  We’ve been taught to express ourselves since we were little.  And though I don’t deny that being unique and an individual is something God appreciates, maybe we tend to value people more or less for what they can DO and not who they ARE.  Inhabit who you are and the gifts you’ve been given, but also be willing to set them aside of you at times and say- that’s not who I am at the core- those are things that I do.  I think this is becoming more real to me as I have been shifting in my passionate pursuits and the desire to feverishly chase a dream has been melting a little from my heart.  Maybe it’s age or maybe I’m just tired.  But, strangely enough, I have had more opportunities to play music live than when I was touting my talents to the world and trying to figure out how to market myself and who to talk to in the music industry.  Funny how things begin to fall into place once you let go a little and just truly enjoy what you do and relinquish some control.

I don’t know where I’ll end up with music or writing or my career endeavors, but ultimately it doesn’t matter.  At the end of my life, what will matter is the way I’ve walked the journey through life.  It’s exciting to think big- to imagine yourself on an Olympic pedestal or playing music for those who truly love it or winning a Nobel prize.  But all of these things are just things that will collect dust and after the moment will cease to hold as much excitement as they once had.  Therefore, how you grow as an individual, the hard work that builds character, the way you treat others and the lives you influence all hold more weight than the actual attainment of the goal.  Remember that.  Tell me to remember that.  And let’s not let people, places or things define who we are.

~lme

Get somewhere

Posted on by

0


Image

Photo credit: Geodesic

How to get somewhere in life.  Not that I have it all figured out…

  1. Narrow your search.  Your mom was right.  You can be anything… but you can’t be everything.  Focus your energy.  Figure out what you’re good at and let that be some of the fire in your career endeavors.  I realized that as a bounced like a pinball from hobby to hobby and activity to activity, I was getting nowhere in my professional life.  Once I narrowed that and began to work more often in specific areas, I felt I was starting to see some positive results.  They don’t come overnight, but once you invest several years, you can look back and see that you have made some movement in the right direction.
  2. Let Confidence always be combined with humility.  These two characteristics sum up how our attitude should be in the music industry.  I don’t care whether you’re a performer or a manager or a promoter or a studio musician.  We must all learn how to combine this sense of confidence and boldness in our talents without the air that we are better than others or in some way higher.  Never be considered more of a taker than a giver.  If you only come to people when you need something without first developing a relationship with them, they can smell your false nature stench.  Don’t be that person.  Or do.. but know that it will get you fewer true friends, fans and collaborators.
  3. Don’t expect perfection.  Laugh when you are ridiculous and accept that you are imperfect.  Always try to work each day to be better, but also don’t let failure ruin you.  Because you’ll fail a lot.  Well, I mean, if you try anything.  But if you don’t, you’ll never fail.  You will also become disappointed in situations and people, so don’t let it become the end of the world when it happens.  Something I am trying to work on is to not let my emotions be driven by the situation in which I find myself.  I must learn to cultivate a core character that is able to withstand many different situations and trials, not letting others dictate my emotions.  Do I fail at this still?  Yep, so much.  But it’s one of my goals this year.  Two months in- and I can see some tiny progress.  Being aware is at least part of that battle of change.

So take a breath, center yourself, narrow your search, marry your confidence with humility and don’t expect perfection. Happy Monday.

lme

3 Undeniable Truths

Posted on by

0


  1. People will always surprise you.  They can warm your heart and make you realize you misjudged them at the onset.  They can also go the opposite way and make you realize you held the bar way too high.  Or a sorority girl will flip you off and bum you out bigtime. True story.
  2. You are limited by time and capacity.  Though I know many people who truly believe they can be super mom or the most amazing entrepreneur/small business owner, etc etc, the truth is that they cant.   No one can do everything effectively.  Try to do it all and you will inevitably fall short in some area of your life. We are limited.  There are only so many hours in the day, and therefore, you must choose wisely.  What is worth your time? Who is worth your time? How much time to you spend running for naught and for your own pointless pursuits?  What do you spend most of your time pondering?  That is what you are living for.  Scary isn’t it?
  3. It doesn’t take long to let a bad attitude fester into disease.  If you allow yourself to stew over wrongdoings toward you and words unfitly spoken, you begin to let it eat you like cancer.  Like I did with the mannerless (it’s not a word) sorority girl.  It’s easier to think the worst of others than to have love and strive to hope for the best in any circumstance.   Learning to love people is something that will take a lifetime of work- to not let my initial reaction be the one that I ultimately let prevail.  Often what comes naturally is not the best route.  So you have to train your body to do what you say it will do.

~lme

Reticent Moonrise

Posted on by

0


moon and sea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credits: this talented individual

From the belly of the ship

I emerged in quiet haste

As the captain slumbered, believing he always had his way

Into the night, in pursuit of escape

One leg over, in blinded faith

Clutching the rope as I slid down the line

Save my life, boat

Freedom, freedom

Ring- ing in my head

Into the night, I found my way

Lapping water like a stray

Gainst the sides of my saving grace

Once I was out of sight and could finally

Breathe audibly

I let my arms rest

Like moses in the wilderness

Reaching up to touch my dampened locks

Where dying flowers revealed my lot

That matched the stench of death

Seeping from my dress

I could lean over and see

The saddest version of me

I cannot run for long I knew

But the punishment that would ensue

Would be worth these few

Moments on an open sea

Free from captivity

And sea-borne illness

That in a week

Would in final silence cover me.

~leah marie

Home: Not quite where the heart should be

Posted on by

0


Image

Photo credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anguskirk/

Some reasons I don’t think I’d like to spend my money on large homes, fancy cars or copious material goods… Unless of course I have the opportunity to live in an Irish castle someday.

  1. I don’t want to spend all my time and efforts creating an environment I never want to leave.  I love to see, go and travel too much to invest so much in the four walls where I could merely sleep and eat.
  2. I don’t want to invest copious amounts of money into something that will only feel big and empty and where recesses are there not touched by light, laughter and music.  And should I need room to breathe, I should not look to a larger cage, but a natural expanse of space. Should I desire to fulfill my senses, I can take to the mountains, the forests, the waterfalls.
  3. Investing in large homes, fancy cars and diamond rings sometimes gives one a false sense of security.  Feeling safe in a world of man-made objects should never be the goal.  Rather, one must test ones comfort zone.  You must allow the world outside your door to become not a puddle you dip your toe in but rather an ocean in which you plunge into with reckless abandonment.
  4. Having a modest home will remind me of who I am and where I am bound.  To have the things we need, with these we shall be content.  But to be rich in travel, experiences that take our breaths away, people who change us for good, learning to give of what we’ve been given and hope of a future, with these my life will be abundantly full and blessed.

truly thoughtful Tuesday- have one 🙂

lme

Truckin’ along with naming the band

Posted on by

0


Keep truckin’

Like a good truck brand,  a lot goes into naming a band.  I’m currently in the midst of such an endeavor.  A name says a lot about who you are, what you do, your style and how seriously you hope to be taken.  No pressure right?  Throughout my word perusings for the ideal name, here are some thoughts to consider:

1.  Band Names must be interesting yet easily recognizable.  Whether it’s a created word (the Lumineers) or the putting together of 2 different words or concepts (The Head and the Heart), it must catch the reader’s attention before it catches their ears and later their heartstrings.  It must be somewhat easy to say, since word of mouth will be an ideal marketing tool for you in this industry.

2.  Band names must have the ability to grow with your band.  Putting a number or utilizing a gender word can somewhat constrict your project (unless this is your long-term idea and you know you’ll keep the band the same always).  You have to keep it from being too narrow in concept but it also needs holding weight as well as wings to move in a direction that might later surprise you.

3. Considering connotation is imperative when choosing a name.  The words should give a feeling you want portrayed through your image and sound.  This, I believe, is the hard part.  Words evoke emotion, and it’s hard to get that just right.  It’s easy for me to write a list of words that have the same direction of feeling I want my audience to experience through song, but it isn’t so easy to create that feeling in a concise way through a name.  Here would be a list of connotation words that connect to me:

Farmouse

Southern

Home

Kinfolk

Wanderer

Tumbleweed

Harvest Moon

Seasons

Calico

Rose

Vintage

Fresh food

deserts, forests, valley, fields

Harmony

Traversing the globe

Lanterns

Imagery

Poetry, melodies

the Glow

Friends

Simplicity

Elsewhere

But finding that perfect name as well as one that hasn’t been snagged previously is a challenge.  So, my reader friends, here’s where you come in.  Kristen and I have a pretty lengthy list but we’d love to hear your ideas.  Feel free to post them in copious amounts on my music page, Leah Edwards Music over this lovely long weekend!

Thanks and we’ll keep you posted!

~lme

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

Put your heart into it… or better yet, put it elsewhere.

Posted on by

0


Photo Credit and rights: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mararie/

This phrase is heard often in our post-modern culture.  “Seize the day- and put your heart into it!” What, praytell, is “it?”  Well, “it” can be anything we want to fill that absence within ourselves- religion, sports, music, academia, philosophy, writing, etc etc.

But I’m going to pose a new way of thinking about our tangible pursuits down here.  What if we don’t put our hearts and all of our focus into so many various parts of our life.  What if we do live a litte “air-hearded” in the sense of all of our everyday affairs, choosing rather to meditate on the spiritual concepts floating above our heads?

Put my heart into music?  No, then i’ll just be anxious and bummed when recognition often escapes me or when I see others who are farther in their successful careers than I am.

Put my whole heart into the stock of what others think, say or my actual relationships?  No, people will disappoint and I’ll spend my time vacillating with each relationship and worrying about how I’m inadequate or how much they’ve hurt or disappointed me or my ego.

Put my heart into creating such a comfortable nest I’ve created here that when it comes my time to fly this coop, I think, oh, but I love my life and stuff here. I’ve invested  so much of my heart and energy into this place.  So, then maybe it behooves us to put our energy and work ethic into what we do, but not our total hearts into what we do.  What do I mean?  Well, maybe our clutch should not be as tight as it is to our image, our talents, our loves (leah speaks to self).  What if we’re called to sacrifice whatever it is?  What if what we thought was our greatest contribution to the world is later revealed as merely a stepping stone to a greater plan set forth for us while we were yet being formed.

We should guard our hearts and, as Rudyard Kipling says, “If all men count with you, but none too much,” we must somehow learn to separate the situations in which we find ourselves and our emotions.  They must not be what drives us- rather, there should be something of far stronger weight acting as our anchor.  If heart is where your treasure is (Matthew 6:21), then where is this anchor?  Investing my heart elsewhere will lead me to less attachment and disappointment in the mere here and now.  Putting my faith and trust in a God who is vastly more powerful than myself will help my perspective be more fixated on better things.  I wont’t get as anxious or worried over politics, broken relationships, stressful moments in the hustle bustle and angry over what I feel I deserve or am owed.  This is part of the strangeness of life.  We see what others have and we want it too.  But sadly, those who have everything we long for often aren’t the people we’d really want to be if we were honest with ourselves.  Do I get giddy over talented musicians?  Why yes, yes I do.  Do I want their often dark and depressing vh1 behind the scenes life or their broken marriages or their exhaustion or addiction to pleasure?  I’ll be honest- aspects of the music lifestyle are incredibly tempting to me.  But then I think deep down, there is a part of me that knows there is so much emptiness in it as well.  I’ve experienced it- the heartache, the sadness, the decision by those I love to leave all for the music at the expense of themselves and others.  And about this whole getting famous bit?  I don’t think it’s that hard to do.  When you’re willing to sacrifice everything- family, friends, dignity, money- for music, you’ll make it out there.  But is that really who I want to be….. someone who has spent their whole life in devotion to self?

I must let my love and pursuit of God and good things be what seeps into every facet of my life will make everything else just compartments.  Instead of giving God his little box, why not view our lives as many boxes and all of them are floating in the same sea of God.  They all become submerged and eventually sink into His greatness.

~lme

Ado or Die

Posted on by

0


Within ourselves, it’s all we can take

And I can’t take anymore

I came across your secrets

loosely scattered on the floor

How I happen on the broken

It comes my way so much

From what I want to turn away

Commands of me so much

Self and love were fated enemies

Just a village built unsound

Want gives way to more want

It’s what I want this time around

And it’s not that I am blinded

While the lifeboat’s at my side

It’s merely laziness I harbor

When it’s truly do. or. die.

~lme

“People who feel nothing, DO nothing.”

Posted on by

0


The heart-shaped hash browns a lad from bongo made just for me 🙂

I read this recently right here.  He’s right.  You absolutely HAVE to latch onto something “too.” Too edgy, too different, too creative, too friendly.  If we are not too something, we are not putting enough of ourselves into it.  If we don’t invoke feelings in other people that compel them to act, perhaps we aren’t really standing for anything.

Ask my brother and sister- I’m highly impassioned and moved by experience, emotion and relationship.  It’s in my DNA- maybe from both sides. Here are some things that I feel passionately about and move me in my musical pursuits.

~~Being a pioneer can be a lonely and uphill way at times.  Don’t TELL me I can’t do it and don’t tell me that since it’s never been done, I should sit down and shut up.  Because I won’t.  I believe there are other good-seeking truth followers who wholeheartedly adore music and yet they do NOT want to spend their evenings playing places where they feel they must compromise who they are and what they stand for.  If you’re out there, I want to meet you and shake your hand.  And I want you in my network, because I appreciate you.  I want to stand by my faith as well as stand with my music in hand and say- here are my talents and here is what I did with them.  “Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free.” Lest we forget- the guy who buried his talent was scolded.

~~Why is it that people can’t get paid for their gifts they have spent valuable time honing?  There have to be innovative ways to generate revenue in the music industry.  It can’t be that I’ll finally make a living at my craft after I’m playing arenas and huge venues all around the world.  Music industry crew- let’s stop being so narrowminded.  Let’s stop listening to people that tell us there is one model of success and it’s name is Ke$ha or Beyonce.  To follow that path is to be lazy. It’s already been done.  So get to the books, the blogs, the influencers in your community, the events and start brainstorming.

~~I want to change the way people see art and music as a career.  Because they are careers.  So if you’re reading this and shaking your head, then do us both a favor and stop reading.  My blog may not be for you, because you won’t like what I have to say. God is Creator.  And he put that into us as lights in this world, which is one of the coolest things in which we see Him down here. I long for respect for spiritually minded people who pour their heart and soul into creating art, music, video, etc.  And if you don’t believe that it is a valid and respectable career choice, then I want you to chunk your ipod and burn all your concert tickets and take all your books to goodwill, because that is what you are basically saying when you think such thoughts.  To artists- If we don’t start treating ourselves with respect, others won’t as well.  So buck up, hold your heart and head high and walk this path with me friend.

~~People always warn of the spiritual dangers in the creative fields- and rightfully so.  But consider this- Wandering from God isn’t merely constricted to those in the creative industries- the pull to go with the flow and follow the Liar is seen in all career choices.  But people rarely shake their heads in sympathy when someone’s future husband has high hopes of being a doctor or lawyer.  Do they warn them like they’ve warned me?  They should.  Yes, “pursuance” can transform into “idol.”  Yes, this can happen to all of us.  Let’s just be fair across the board is what I ask.  Though we be farmers, doctors, lawyers, musicians or teachers, we all have the ability to put something higher on the todem pole than God Himself.

What drives you in your creative endeavors?  How have you worked toward marrying your faith and your talents?  Feel free to let me know in the comment space below.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨