I’d like to share this piece that was written by Mike around 1990. It was read at his funeral yesterday.

Symphony. ..

Last week we went on our long planned and much needed vacation camping trip. For many it would not have been much of a trip, since we traveled no further than Melvern Lake, but for us it was great. While there, late one afternoon at dusk, we went for a family walk around the camp grounds. While walking, our nine year old, Richie, scolding Rosemary and myself for talking, making too much noise. ‘When you “get away from it all” you’re supposed to leave your work at home, but mom and dad on this occasion were guilty of talking about business while we walked. The sun had gone down. It was that twilight time, with nightfall and darkness close at hand. We continued walking and talking, but Richie persisted, saying something about us making too much noise. He couldn’t hear the symphony. Symphony, what symphony we inquired. Our Richie stopped, stood before us, like an orchestra conductor.

He said, “listen, over there is one part, there another, and there another. They are all playing together, a symphony. We paused and listened. “Don’t you hear the music, the different parts” he asked us? Finally it dawned on us what he was talking about, what he heard. He was talking about the sounds around us, the crickets and things and how it was music, a symphony. It was something we would have missed, if it was not for our fourth grader. Something special.

Too often, we do not take the time from “important things” to stop and listen to the music, the symphony that only God can make. It is always around us, playing every second
of every day. If you take the time to listen, and let the music into your heart it becomes easy to see just how small the wants of mankind; power, control, money and foolish pride, really are. How small we really are, when compared to the symphony… .

I’ve been reading a book that says there are only so many plots for stories. But not to worry, the thing that interests us is the how. How will the guy get the girl? How will the hero triumph?

I have read some things about the law of attraction that say the how of something will take shape once we have defined what we want and imagined how we will feel when we have it. The Masters of the Secret with Bill Harris says that when you focus on what you want, you develop ideas about how to get it, you notice resources that could help, you become motivated to act and develop inner qualities. At times this may seem effortless, but it’s not.

The thing that interests us is the how. How can we accomplish the desired goal? What actions do we need to take?

Reverend Will Bowen of Christ Church Unity of Kansas City had an idea. The goal was to be complaint free for 21 days. Purple bracelets to wear until the goal is accomplished was the idea that made it concrete. It’s simple, unexpected, and has generated tons of interest and stories. The number of bracelets that have been requested world-wide so far?

It’s about focusing on what you want, not what you don’t want.