Day 28

No sugar or dairy

I’m mulling over “the next project” as possibly staying off fried foods and breads – in restaurants. But not today, and certainly not next month (I’m looking forward to my Louisiana foods next month)! And today, the grandson and I went to Chick-fil-A, except I didn’t feel like sipping water with my meal so I ordered (and drank) an unsweet Tea. That is probably a first.

There has been a little letdown at my house. As I opened the door of the freezer and peered in, a wave of disappointment hung over me, the hubby ate the last of the Blue Bell Homemade vanilla ice cream. I thought it would be there for my birthday.☹ But then again, maybe he plans to go shopping and buy a “not-freezer-burnt” tub for my big day! He can be thoughtful like that, and of course it helps that he always reads my blog post.😉

Those of you who have followed my blog for some time know that my favorite devotional is probably my Streams in the Desert 1. No matter how many times I read the stories, they still move me to tears. And one of my favorite accounts is about the great violinist, Paganini.

            He came out before his audience one day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it a second and then saw that it was not his famous and valuable one.

He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered that someone had stolen his and left that old secondhand one in its place. He remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his audience and said:

“Ladies and Gentlemen: I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul.” And he played as he had never played before; and out of that secondhand instrument, the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul.

It is your mission, tested and tried one, to walk out on the stage of this world and reveal to all earth and heaven that the music is not in conditions, not in the things, not in externals, but the music of life is in your own soul. —Streams

The Apostle Paul also knew that the music was in the soul and revealed it to the world over and over. “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether it be a full stomach or hunger, plenty or want; for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power” (Philippians 4:11-13 TLB).

How well are you walking out on the stage of life and fulfilling your mission?