A mother's encouragement

I am a music teacher by training. One of the occupational hazards in being a music teacher is that you tend to drag your children (and even your dear husband) into musical performance situations with you throughout their whole lives. Sometimes, they were dragged kicking and screaming. I have often wondered if that would prove to be a blessing or a curse to my children.

This coming Christmas, both the boys and their wives will be home for the holidays. When we were talking to Ben on the phone this past weekend, he mentioned that he had done an arrangement of "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent", and suggested all on his own that perhaps our family could present it during the Christmas Eve service at church. This was enough to warm the cockles of any music-teaching mamma's heart! Then, today he sent me the arrangement (for piano, two guitars, and three-part vocals), and it is beautiful-- interesting and haunting and utterly appropriate for the text and the original melody. I can't wait to perform it together! (If anyone out there has Finale Notepad {a free download} and wants to hear it, let me know!)

I feel as if Ben has risen in the gates and called me blessed!

I'm sure it's not unique to homeschooling, but because we are responsible for so very many areas of the lives of our children, the dread of "ruining" them somehow can be an intense and intimidating one. This is one of those precious moments when I glimpse the fact that God has been doing good work in the lives of my children, and I haven't been able to thwart Him. What an encouragement that is!