A Moment to Exhale

Such a small thing can sometimes lighten despair. In Miss Brown’s case it was just a tune. A street musician was playing a violin somewhere down in the street below…
…because of a few scraps of music played… her fear was eased. It would come back again, probably, as recurrent pain comes back, but the fiddler had given her a blessed respite. …
And hope was hers, too, now because of those tunes.

Elizabeth Goudge
The Castle on the Hill

Music is such a sustaining gift. Perhaps similar to the way we’re told that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we can’t find the words to pray, it seems that music can draw out the feelings buried within us, giving them expression. It can hold us and fill us, and be a source of light in the dark.

This is one of my favorite pieces to take a pause with when I am weary. I first heard it shared in a lovely place I’ve come to visit often. The soothing beauty of these musical notes brings that blessed respite.

Songs for Comfort
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Beginning Again

Sometimes life can take us unexpected places. I tend to think of such times as “detours” or “disruptions”. But maybe it is more helpful to see them simply as “a bend in the road”.

Anne Shirley is one of my beloved literary friends. Her words are perfect for such times….

“I shall give life here my best, and I believe it will give its best to me in return. When I left Queen’s [Academy] my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does.”

L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables

As I sit in the middle of the bend, not knowing what to make of what lies behind me and unable to see what lies ahead, these are words I want to live by. Choosing to believe good lies in my path. And it does. Because God is always with me. And He is good.

Road of Life, Words to Carry
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