Quantcast
Channel: Devotion – Quiet-Not Broken
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 51

20 Things I Learned In My 20s – Part 3

0
0

I left off explaining the lesson of hope.

Hope continued:

To reiterate, I stated that hope is real and the sister of truth.  Before I continue, I think of truth and hope in this way because I cannot fathom how hope holds any meaning if one does not know what is real.  And to illustrate, I’ll head right into the rest of my story.

The fight that I had was in middle school, and by my 8th grade year, I was entirely unmotivated, without hope and barely passing my classes.  I was always fully capable of achieving so much more than Cs and Ds, but there was nothing true and palpable enough on which to stand, to grasp, or believe at that stage in my life.  My family life was troubling and still hurts to think on today. So as the proverb says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18).

Eventually it came time to matriculate to the 9th grade.  In the final semester of my 8th grade year, I “Christmas-treed” my course selection sheet, and among the choices of electives, I callously chose chorus.  Let me fast-forward this story to the Winter of 1996, at our first Winter Concert in high school.   What sonorous tones, and beautiful voices, and gorgeous music was I hearing?  Who wrote it?  How is this possible?  Why am I so impacted by the words?  The song was “There Is No Rose” arranged by Ronald Center.  Watch the video to listen to what I heard.

There is no rose of such virtue

As is the rose that bear Jesu

Alleluia

Note on the chorus: This piece is a Christmas carol written in the late Middle Ages, c. 1420, and is set to music by contemporary composer Ronald Center. It’s a macaronic song, meaning it’s written in two languages: Middle English and Latin. This performance features the Memphis Women’s Chorale and their conductor, Jeremy T. Warner.

Upon hearing these first three lines, I was transfixed!  I had never heard such a sound like that from a group of voices, live in person.  The song is beautiful to me in terms of its inseparable unity of harmony, well-written text and excellent performance.  Overall it was the music that overwhelmed me, and it is through the mathematical and sonic synchronicity with my inner world, my heart, and my spirit that brought me face-to-face with God.  At that point in my life the question of beauty and love brought me to come to grips with the existence of God.  While I did not give up my faith in the decade and a half of struggle, I was far removed from actively believing and trusting in God.   So much pain and suffering had taken place that I was numb to him prior to that marvelous night at the concert. That winter in 1996 re-opened my ears to the Spirit of God, re-ignited my love of him, and taught me about the love and compassion he has for me.

You’re probably confused at this point. “David, this story isn’t in your 20s and you haven’t mentioned hope yet.”  Well, at the time I wasn’t mature enough to fully recognize what was taking place in me. The hope wasn’t fully realized until years later in 2003.  Are you connecting the dots? 2003 was a pivotal year.  In the throes of my crisis of faith, I was brought to my knees to review my life in great detail.  I had to search every possible moment where the God of the bible–the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob–had spoken to me.  Winter 1996 was a prior pivotal year where God parted the seas of my troubles and spoke to me on an emotional and intuitive level.  2003 is where he spoke to me more so on a studious and cognitive level in immaculate clarity!  That is the same year I took a deep interest in Christian apologetics.  Hope was realized in my 20s in 2003 and I learned that Jesus is kind. He is not a tyrant king. He doesn’t delight in suffering. He is merciful. He is all-together wonderful.  He is hope embodied fully!

My freshmen year of high school I decided to major in music.  Eventually I did in 2005 and went on to teach music in public school for five years, until I joined the U. S. Army Reserve.

Hope was realized in my 20s. And what a valuable lesson it has been.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. – Colossians 2:6-10


Tagged: fruits of the spirit, galatians, hope, jesus

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 51

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images