Tag: records

I Think My Record Has a Scratch On It

Published on by marycatherinethomas2 Comments

“For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” Romans 11:29 (NLT)

I am old enough to remember spending my afternoons and weekends listening to 45’s and albums. In middle school, I loved the Monkees. This group helped me in many ways cope with the death of my Mom. I had all of their albums and played them over and over. On their first album was the song, “The Last Train to Clarksville”, which had a scratch in it. There was one point in the song that made it sound like the singer had a case of the burps, where it just kept replaying a note. The needle was stuck in the groove from the scratch. It was at this point where you either put a penny on the top of the needle to give it more weight to keep tracking or you gently put a finger on top of the needle to keep it tracking. To this day, whenever I hear this song my mind automatically puts the scratch part of the song in my mind. I smile whenever this happens.

We all have records that we play in our mind. Not the actual vinyl albums, but records of how we feel about ourselves or what has been told or yelled at us through the years. These records replay negative things in our mind and follow us through life, unfortunately.

How often do you listen to ‘those’ records? Recently I have listened to mine and it has been stuck on the same note. For me, that note is feeling inadequate. These notes stick in my brain, and they clog my heart and soul. In these times, I cannot clearly see or hear God’s voice telling me that I am enough. I fail to hear God’s voice that Yes, I can write, yes I can minister. Mainly that I CAN.

What I have once more learned that when I focus on the skip in the recording instead of allowing the Lord to rest His finger on the needle of my heart so that the skip is barely noticeable, I can continue with the song that is my life.

God’s finger He places on us is a gentle touch. He doesn’t want us to listen to bad recordings. He has more for us. He has the beautiful harmony that He has created for us. His recordings bring us life and fullness of joy. When I was in middle school we had a stack of 45’s. We would go through that stack and discover songs we had forgotten we had. We’d play them and remember why they were at the bottom of the stack, they were just bad. The same is true in our life, (especially mine), when we reach down and play the recordings that do not give us life, do not draw us closer to God and to what He has planned for us.

I, once more, have to take the record I have been listening to and toss it or better still, break it so it cannot be taken out again.

Changing Past Reflections

Published on by marycatherinethomasLeave a comment

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

Just a thought for today. How often do we look at our reflection and play an old record in our mind?

You know the type of recording, for some it may be a mental 77 rpm’s, a 33 long play, or a 45rpm. Or, some people listen to old mental recordings on a 8-track, cassette, or a disc. The point being, that at some point in our lives something was said, or hinted at and we recorded it in our mind. It became a part of us. It is what we listen to when we view ourselves.

Yesterday Dale and I had a conversation. It was an interesting one for both of us. We sat down to talk about what we’d like to get accomplished in the next little bit and out poured thoughts that we both thought were long buried and forgotten.

It wasn’t an argument, it was a real conversation, a good one. The result being I have since thought of the records (I’d like to say 45’s but it’s more like the long play album of a 33) that I listen to.

I have a pretty good memory, which is good, considering my age. But sometimes with that memory I think of off handed comments said in a moment and yet they cling to me like gospel truth. These thoughts do not build me up. I use them to criticize and tear myself down. I thought I had erased bad recordings, but like a stack of records you sometimes hit upon an oldie you had forgotten about.

All of this to say, for me, and hopefully someone else as weirdly wired as me, that our Lord is in the business of erasing for good all the old recordings we don’t need. Even at my age, I still discover that God isn’t finished with me yet. He continues to hold tight to me and fashion me into someone with a child like faith. Grasping onto my Savior’s hand and trusting Him to lead me where He wants me to go.

Sometimes that path means leaving the unplayed stack of records on it’s own and rediscovering melodies sang to me by God.