I Love a PARADE!

I was trying to remember this morning the last time that I went to a PARADE.  Piper loved a good PARADE.  She would sit in wonder while she watched the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving PARADE on TV each year.  She loved the floats, but most of all… it was the marching bands that always caught her fancy!  I’m pretty sure that it reminded her of the anticipation and fun that she enjoyed while marching and performing routines in our local Rose PARADE each year with our high school band.  Piper’s main band instrument was the flute, but when they marched in a parade, she proudly played her high-pitched piccolo!

Now that I think about it… I believe that the last PARADE that I actually attended was our hometown Rose PARADE, but this time, it was Piper and I watching three of our four kids playing with the Santa Rosa Christian School band from the back of a flat bed semi-trailer pulled by a deep green semi-tractor!  Our oldest daughter Jamie, had carried on the tradition of her mom and also played the flute until she got braces and for the fun of it, switched to the tuba!  Like his older brother before him, Jeremy played the trumpet and our youngest JoAnna, took up the clarinet.  The children definitely got the Piper gene with their musical talents and also played a number of different instruments!

What got me thinking about PARADES this morning was a familiar scripture passage from 2 Corinthians 2:14 where Paul wrote,

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us like a victorious PARADE to reveal the beauty of being in union with Christ and thus spread the loving fragrance of his character, methods and principles everywhere we go.” (Remedy) 

I guess that I was reading this verse today from the viewpoint of a father as I immediately started thinking of how God… just like an earthly parent… loves to show off His kid’s talents, abilities and victories in an exciting PARADE where everyone present can watch and ooh and aah with the same delight that I would see in Piper’s eyes when she watched a dazzling marching band!

In God’s eyes though, what He wants the spectators to see and enjoy, is the dazzling ways in which we, His children, display “the loving fragrance of His character, His methods and His principles” within the world in which you and I live our daily lives!

2 Corinthians 2:15-16A goes on to explain that,

“Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—as an aroma redolent with life.  But those on the way of destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse...” (The Message)

It is interesting to me, that while we basically are told what God expects the world to see in us… that not everyone will see… and necessarily be in agreement with… what He sees! 

So, what do we do?  Well… I don’t see anywhere in this verse or throughout the New Testament where God tells us to act any differently than the way He desires us to live.  We just keep playing the instruments of life that He has given each of us to play and practice… in order to keep honing our talents throughout the individual course that He has set before each of us.

I kind of had to learn the hard way for awhile in my life when people would get upset with me for following my Christian beliefs… when they didn’t like what I was doing.  But once I got past ME… and realized as Paul is saying in these verses above, that they were really having a problem with God and His Word… rather than just with me… that I finally learned how love these individuals, pray for them and communicate with them in ways that would not trigger their frustrations.

I have to give it to Piper in that she never stopped improving her skills and talents with the piano.  She was constantly learning new pieces for church praise and worship services, but also spent time learning, practicing and playing (what I would consider the more intricate and difficult) classical pieces of music for her own pleasure… and then surprise me with a special gift when she would play the pieces just for me! 

You don’t know how much I miss her playing the piano.  I will find myself at times… just staring at the now silent piano and imagine that I’m observing her little fingers flying across the keys as the glorious sounds blend into a wonderful crescendo of fragrant melodies that were the signature musical notes of Piper.

That’s the way that I want to live my life.  I want to continue improving the sweet fragrance of God’s character, His methods and His principles that pour forth from my life and act as an aroma redolent with life.

How about you?

Have a great Fourth of July weekend, and as you do, keep EXPECTING to share God’s BEST with others, through the sweet sounds and fragrances of God that emanates through you.