We are Instruments

This morning I was reading in Alma chapter 35. As I came across verse 14, I read, " . . . having been instruments in the hands of God."

I know i've read and heard this phrase countless times before, but this morning was when it struck me that we are all the orchestra here on earth, and God is the conductor. He has shown us the way we need to go, but in the end -- it's up to us to learn our parts.
With all the experience I've had playing in ensembles, this really struck me. If you don't know your part, you're letting your section down, and ultimately the whole group. Just like us in our families, we want to stay all together as a section -- so that at the end of the concert, we can all look at each other and know that we did well.
Of course, we have to follow our concertmaster: Christ. He shows us all the bowings and fingerings, and as we keep an eye on him and an eye on Heavenly Father, our conductor, we won't get lost.

Holy moly, isn't that awesome!

Thanks for indulging me in a gospel + music analogy, it made my day.

In other news: On Wednesday I am starting a new job! I get to teach an "exploratory" elementary school orchestra class -- basically meaning that the kids will get rotated so they just learn the basics on the instrument. Luckily, everyone gets to learn the violin -- so I don't have to teach the cello or bass (or worse  . . . how to read alto clef! {just kidding [but really]}). I am nervous, excited, and ready to have this experience. It'll only be an hour on Mondays and an hour on Wednesdays, but this is an amazing opportunity that just fell into my lap, an opportunity to be an instrument. Yay!

Why Kids Need to Learn Music

"...music has the power of producing a certain effect on the ethos of the soul, and if it has the power to do this, it is clear that the young must be directed to music and must be educated in it. Also education in music is well adapted to the youthful nature; for the young owing to their youth cannot endure anything not sweetened by pleasure, and music is by nature a thing that has a pleasant sweetness."

--Aristotle, Politics

As a violin teacher of young kids . . . this is awesome! Lately, I've been trying to figure out how to build my studio . . . I adore teaching! It makes me so happy. 

So, I suppose this would be a good opportunity to put a plug in for my teaching. If you or anyone you know in Heber or Orem wants to learn the violin -- I am your woman!

Check out my cool music teachers website: https://sponseller.musicteachershelper.com/

And that is all. Give your children music lessons! Because, like Aristotle said,

 "music is by nature a thing that has pleasant sweetness."

 

Books I Read This Summer

I started school last week. I've found that I have a difficult time reading for fun during the school year, what with having to read textbooks and all (what? Am I implying that reading textbooks ISN'T fun? . . .Uhhh . . . No?) But this summer, I took advantage of a calmer schedule and made a dent, albeit a small one, in Colten and my VAST collection of books (but I'm not kidding).

And so, without further ado,  I will now present you with my summer reading list!

1. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: this is a distopian novel similar to 1984. It's about a society in which it is illegal to read books and a fireman whose job it is to burn people's houses when books are found in them. And of course, this same fireman ends up with some books and chaos ensues.

2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: this is another distopian novel, except I was WAY more disgusted with this one than Farenheit 451. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The main plot is that this society is given jobs and roles and are encouraged to sate their immoral passions. It was very thought provoking, but I know that I won't ever be reading it again.

3. The Quest by O.F. Ursenbach: most of you have probably never heard of this book. It was written by an LDS author in 1945, and I found it at DI. It was a lovely change from the dystopian novels I had just read. In this book, a Jewish Rabbi decides that he believes in Christ and goes on a "quest" around the world to find the religion that he feels most right about. He goes all over the world. I have always loved learning about world religions and this was a delightful and educational read. I loved it!

4. The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber: okay, so I would never have picked this book by myself. It was actually an assignment for my entrepreneurship class. However, for being a book about how to start your own business, it was a surprisingly easy and good read.

5. Saving Fish From Drowing by Amy Tan: I loved this story. I have always been drawn to stories about the Asian culture. . . it's so fascinating to me! This story was about a woman who planned a trip to Myanmar (Burma) and passed away shortly before. Instead, she becomes a ghost and follows the group that went on the trip without her. Because of a misunderstanding, the group gets kidnapped by a tribal group and spends a lot of time in the mountains of Myanmar. While this book has a bit of bad language, it was still a very enjoyable read.

6. The Chosen by Chaim Potok: this was interesting read. It is about two boys who belong to two different sects of Judaism and how they become friends. I learned a lot about Judaism, which was awesome. I enjoyed it.

7. The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: holy heck, I loved this book. It's about a group of sailors during World War I that finds a continent that has never been discovered. There are dinosaurs and cave people on this continent, and so, obviously, there is quite a bit of adventure.

8. The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the sequel to The Land that Time Forgot. This second book is about a friend of one of the sailors that learns of the whereabouts of his friend and goes to rescue him. In this one, we learn more about the people of this continent. It is especially interesting, because on the continent, the people are gathered into evolved groups. At the bottom are the dinosaurs and reptiles and as you move up, you find men and then higher functioning men as you move upward.

9. Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the final novel in The Land that Time Forgot trilogy. This one mainly covers the most highly evolved people on the continent and a mythical creature called a Weiroo . . . don't ask my how to pronounce that. I absolutely loved this trilogy. It was written around the time of World War I, and it's your basic clean adventure story. I HIGHLY recommend it.

10. Old Man's War by John Scalzi: this was such an interesting story! It's about old people on earth that sign up to fight wars with aliens in space. Once in space, they are given a new body -- basically an improved younger version of themselves. Sci-fi at its best, but watch out for some of the language.

11. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: I've heard so much about this book, but no one told me how some parts of the story are so HARD to read. And the worst part is that things in these book are things that actually happened. Horror stories about the Taliban. I'm glad I read it though, to become more informed about the history in Afghanistan and also to reignite my appreciation for the beautiful freedoms we have here.

12. The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright: this was a fast and sweet read about a husband and wife that pass away together and the children that find the letters their dad wrote to their mom every single Wednesday, and of course about the family secrets that they learn.

13. Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card: this is basically a parallel novel of Ender's Game, but told in the point of view of a different character. I read Ender's Game earlier (I had to, since it's one of Colten's favorites and he has almost all the Orson Scott Card books) and so that helps me appreciate another point of view on the story.

While most of these books were great reads, my favorite from the summer is definitely "The Land that Time Forgot" trilogy. I highly recommend it! I hope I get to do some reading this semester, but if I don't get to do much -- at least I'll have a lot of stories to reflect on. And I hope you all get to do some reading too. Yay books!!