Self Control and The Cookie Monster

I'll admit that as a full grown adult I should not be getting huge epiphanies of life lessons from children's television programming. But just as Sesame Street has a sacred place in my childhood, I now hold it with entirely new respect.

Every morning at 7 am we turn on Sesame Street for my son, almost 18 months. About 15 minutes in to every episode is the time to reveal The Letter of The Day. Today is was V. Everyday Cookie Monster introduces it, sometimes with his friend Prarie Dawn. But everyday Cookie Monster eats The Letter of The Day. Prarie Dawn will try to stop him. Even Cookie Monster's own efforts to not eat The Letter of The Day go fruitless. It brought about this line from a recent episode:

"Hey let's face it. You know it. I know it. Let's just get it over with... Come to Papa!"

I wonder how many times you and I want to do something better with our lives, or want to stop acting in some annoying or destructive manner, and just don't make it. How often do we give up when it starts to get too hard to change? "Hey, let's face it..." Have you ever said this yourself? And we look silly. And people look at us funny, like I do at Cookie Monster - that slight little smile that goes right along with the word "pathetic." (as was noted one day when The Letter of The Day was P.)

Can't we do better? To quote another children's program; "Yes, we can!"

Waiting for the World to Change

I keep hearing this song, "Waiting on the World to Change" (mostly because I just bought the John Mayer CD). It's becoming a song that defines my generation and how we feel about stuff. Its not so great when people tell you what you think, or pick someone else to speak for you.

But more than anything I get annoyed that John Mayer, and my generation, frankly, want to wait for the world to change. "One Day" things will be different. "One Day" WE will be in control, and then things will be fair, and then the world will change. Until then, we'll wait. What???

History shows us that, really, the world doesn't seem to change. People in power do things that other people don't like. One group hates another, nations teeter on the brink of war while others go about their daily business, trying to "get their's" while the getting is good, before someone else takes it. And you know, you know they will.

"Evil wins while Good Men do nothing." Or in this case, wait for the world to change.

Freedom & Music

I'm discovering how strange freedom can actually be. I know we all say that we want it, demand it, deserve it. But sometimes its hard to know what to do when you are actually free.

I'm working with some students and trying to get them ready to play in the worship band at our youth group. They're in Jr. High and, for the most part, have been classically trained as musicians. This is fantastic! They know they're stuff, how to read sheet music (which is still a foreign language for me), play it perfectly and can play multiple instruments. They're amazing!

But there's this other way of learning music, let's call it the Hack Way of Music, or the Self-Taught-Guitar-Player Way. (That seems about right...) When these guys get together they don't have sheet music but something called a Lead Sheet. Its the lyrics of the song with big letters above the lyrics that show you what musical chord to play. It's not always in perfect rhythm, or is it necessarily in the right place with the lyric. You have to kind of know the song to play along. There's a basic music structure shown on the Sheet, but there's also a LOT of room for filling in with notes of your own choosing. In fact it usually sounds better if you add notes to the basic structure.

This is where I've noticed the strange taste of Freedom. The Classically Trained Jr. Highers are playing in our band, which subscribes to the Hack Way of Music. The students are used to getting Sheet Music, and having each note that they play written out for them. They are not used to playing whatever sounds good or feels right in between things, as in the Hack Way. I'll encourage them to be creative, to fill in the space between the beats with other notes, to show off a little bit. Their reaction is really funny.

They're kind of scared.

It's that look on their face of, "OK. I think I can do that, but I'm not sure. I should be able to do that. How do I do that? Are you sure you want me to do this?"

Its innocent. Its humorous. And the more I think about it, in life, its true for me too.

Generosity

I am being shaken in my faith by things that might be considered on the 'liberal' side of theology. Growing up in a 'conservative' church this scared me at first. But now I'm realizing how ridiculous it is to categorize and segregate expressions of the Christian faith because of politics. I tend to despise politics.

I have many thoughts on this, but here are some on Generosity written for RelevantMagazine.com. Tell me what you think.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7256

new year

New year, new blog, and I'm done trying to figure it out on my own. I get a headache. And frustrations mount. The more I've tried to gaze in wonder at life, taking it all in for all that it is, the more I seem to understand it. Not that I get it. It's just that I can live in it better, and enjoy what is simply because it is. And usually, its good.