From the Ashes

I have recently changed from being a full-time music teacher and bi-vocational music minister to being a full time music and education minister. Music has always been one of the main driving forces of my life, but I must admit that I noticed after 14 years of 7-8 hours a day of teaching music, I began to "not listen" to music for fun. Maybe my ears were full! I enjoyed music that I knew from years ago, but as far a enjoying new music, I just seemed to be "burned out." I have always enjoyed making music and songwriting music of my own, but grew less and less able to appreciate the music of others. One blessing that I am seeing grow from my new opportunities and schedule is the gradual return of the enjoyment of listening to the music of others. I heard the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church Christmas program and the choir sang an arrangement of Mary Did You Know that grabbed my heart like it hadn't been grabbed in a long time. A friend of mine turned me on to www.pandora.com which plays music according to the style of artist you type in. I am enjoying it as I type now. I still don't totally understand why I developed a "burned out" deadness to new music, but the flame is returning. They say fire needs three elements: fuel, heat, and air in order to burn. I would have to say that with all of my classes in the past, my passion for music had plenty of fuel, and heat of the love of music was there, but I was under too much pressure to let my passion breathe. Now that a little air is in my schedule, there are puffs of smoke and little flames that are rising up in my fire for enjoying music again. Thank you God for letting a little breathing room into my life to stoke the fire from the ashes.