Reflections of a friend

The following was written by my friend Mark Pope (here's his website: http://www.markandrewpope.com, where you can read the following and other enlightening and inspirational thoughts; check out his songs and music; and listen to podcasts featuring him and his friend Aron discussing a lot of things that usually make me go "AMEN!"). This spoke to me in ways I thought unfathomable. I'm sharing it with y'all in the hopes that it speaks to you in much the same way. Happy reading!

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Revision...

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been going back through some old music and revising it and editing it to try to get it out to people. The problem is that I’ve found that the older the song, the harder it is for me to revise. I’ve been looking at music that is maybe 15 years old. I don’t know that it was all that great to begin with, but even as I look at it again after all of these years, I find myself reluctant to change a note or rhythm. There’s something about those tunes, melodies and harmonies that just get ingrained into my head. When I start to revise, I feel like I’m just chopping up ideas and confusing the form, etc... But, the truth is, that at the end of the process, I usually find a better piece of music in place of the old. Also, I find that I’ve been much more conservative in my revision than I thought I was at the time that I was revising. Changes that I thought were HUGE sometimes make very little difference to the overall feel or sound of a piece of music.

But, as I sit and do this day after day, I start to realize that I approach a lot of things in my life like this. There are habits and traits that have been around for a very long time. As far as I’m concerned, they are just on the shelf and part of who I am. But, in times of crisis or when I can feel ol’ Satan creeping in, I have to re-examine who I am. And, I see the old me and realize that I need to revise. Sometimes, I need some serious revision, actually.

So, I set on revising - through prayer and scripture and help from my spouse and friends... and I think that I’m making huge strides. But, sometimes my revisions don’t make a big difference in my overall person. And, unlike my music, when I make self-revisions, those revisions can slowly work their way back to the original. One step forward... ______ steps back. Ever felt that way?

Here’s the lesson that I have to learn over and over and over.... I can rely on scripture, prayer and just about who or whatever else I want to, but God is the Master Revisor. Until I give my life to Him and allow God to be the Editor in Chief of my life, all of my self-help and self-evaluation is like the tiny revisions that I make to some of my old music. It is still my old music - just all polished up. That’s the best I can do for myself. I can take my old self and polish it up. Make it look good on the outside - and feel good, for a short while, on the inside. But only God does complete overhauls.

I just pray that God writes a new symphony with my life. Not to take all of the old material and patch it together differently - but to constantly make me new through Jesus - to continually renew, refresh and strengthen me in His Word.

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Amen, brother, and thanks for letting me share it here.

In Him and around the corner (and thanking God for such groovy neighbors),
Al