Music! Songs! Melodies! I’ve always loved to sing. Just like the ABBA song - “I was a dancer before I could walk - MOM SAYS I BEGAN TO SING LONG BEFORE I COULD TALK!” I started taking piano lessons when I was seven years old and it feels like I’ve always played. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t play. God gifted me with a natural singing voice. I started singing solos at school (I once played the part of Mrs. Santa and the next year played the part of Mary) and at church (I always sang in the junior choir and then the senior choir). Even before worship teams were a thing - in the 70’s, a few of us led the singing at the services - in our jean overalls!

My Mom said that when I grew up and went away to college - music left our home! That was a nice compliment.

Songs always evoke memories in me.

Favourite memories involving songs………

I must begin with a song from the musical The Sound of Music (which is my most favourite movie of all time) - MY FAVOURITE THINGS!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings - These are a few of my favourite things.

(Are you singing it with me?)

Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels. Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings - These are a few of my favourite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes. Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes.

Silver white winters that melt into springs - These are a few of my favourite things.

WHEN THE DOG BITES, WHEN THE BEE STINGS - WHEN I’M FEELING SAD!

I SIMPLY REMEMBER MY FAVOURITE THINGS -

AND THEN I DON’T FEEL - SO BAD!

When I was 6 or 7, my big brother, Bob - married Lynn - in Fort Erie. Phil and Tim and I drove from Cornwall to Fort Erie with my oldest sister, Marilyn and her husband Bill. My Mom and Dad couldn’t come to the wedding because my Dad had had serious surgery just weeks before and hadn’t fully recovered. It was a pretty big deal to drive so far away. The furthest I had ever travelled was Cornwall to Montreal or Cornwall to New York state camping. On the way home from the wedding (it was the May long weekend and hot) we had all the windows down in the car and a great big bee flew in and stung me. Perhaps because I was homesick for my Mom and Dad and because it really hurt, I couldn’t stop crying. So of course, my big brothers, Phil and Tim, started singing - “when the dog bites - when the bee stings!” I want to believe they were really trying to cheer me up. In reality - I think they were teasing me. Quite frankly though, it’s a song that comes to mind quite often. I channel my inner Julie Andrews and sing it loud and proud and I always always feel better.

Christmas Eve services have been special to me ever since I was a child. I love the Christmas carols so much. I love the magic of Christmas Eve. The story of Silent Night has always intrigued me. It was Christmas Eve, 1818, when the now-famous carol was first performed as Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht. Joseph Mohr, the young priest who wrote the lyrics, played the guitar and sang along with Franz Xaver Gruber, the choir director who had written the melody. The legend says that a mouse chewed through the organ so it wouldn’t work and that’s why they had to use the guitar!!! We always closed the Christmas Eve service with the singing of Silent Night, Holy Night - holding candles in a darkened church. It was magical, although, one year it wasn’t too magical when someone from the balcony dropped wax on someone’s suit down below nor the year someone let out a large and loud fart to break the magic of the moment was broken. My boys and many others couldn’t stop laughing.

But I’m thinking of another time - another carol - during another Christmas Eve service . We were living in Listowel and Randy was at the front leading the readings and carols - I was sitting with our three boys and probably Gramma and Grampa Jolliffe were there. My in-laws spent most Christmases with us as our boys were their only grandchildren.To being the service we sang - JOY TO THE WORLD - and I was belting out the words at full volume. I noticed Zac had his hands over his ears. I leaned over to him and asked him what was wrong? He said - “you’re singing too loud!” Every Christmas as we sing that carol I remember that night. That memory always brings a smile to my face.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room. And heav’n and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains -Repeat the sounding joy,

He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love,

The song - Never Once - was particularly meaningful to me during a stretching, growing, painful time in our lives but it applies to many more times than the events of 2010. Even now when this song comes across my playlist or on Christian radio - I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness to me and to my family. Sometimes the memories squeak out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

NEVER ONCE

Standing on this mountaintop - Looking just how far we’ve come

Knowing that for every step - You were with us

Kneeling on this battle ground - Seeing just how much You’ve done

Knowing every victory - Was Your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way - But with joy our hearts can say

NEVER ONCE DID WE EVER WALK ALONE

NEVER ONCE DID YOU LEAVE US ON OUR OWN

YOU ARE FAITHFUL, GOD, YOU ARE FAITHFUL.

Scars and struggles on the way - But with joy our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone - Carried by Your constant grace

Held within Your perfect peace - Never once, no, we never walk alone

Every step we are breathing in Your grace - Evermore we’ll be breathing out Your praise

You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Your are, You are faithful, God, You are faithful

All my life - since the time that I can remember - I have known that God is with me. In my comings and my goings. In my ups and downs. In my highs and my lows. I’m ever so grateful.

In 1974 - on my 16th birthday - January 26 - I found out my mom had cancer. Being the youngest, I was the only one at home - the older siblings were all married or away at college. I can still see Dad on the phone - standing in the hallway - hearing the diagnosis - and then calling me out of my bedroom - to tell me what was going on. Back in those days - I couldn’t imagine my mom surviving the diagnosis and I thought she was going to die. She lived for 46 more years. We didn’t walk alone through those uncertain days.

In 1984 - August 20th - the day Pete was born - the anesthesiologist was preparing me for my epidural before my C-section - and he put the needle in the wrong place and then promptly left the Operating Room. I was left alone and felt the anesthetic go from my belly to my toes and then up to my neck. I was in trouble and I knew it. I wasn’t breathing. I prayed instantly. I prayed constantly as my life flashed before my eyes. I was paralyzed from my neck to my toes. My baby and I would die unless help arrived pronto. God sent help - in the form of Dr. C - who came into the room and immediately I was put on a respirator. I woke up hours later in the Recovery Room and thought I was in heaven. The lights were so bright. Nope - Pete and I were both fine and healthy. Once again we didn’t walk alone. I was held within God’s perfect peace. Every moment I was breathing out His grace.

In 1994 - July - we received a phone - late at night from my brother Ted that our brother Tim had drowned in a canoeing accident up near McKenzie Island. Shock. Pain. Unbelief. Tim was just 39. I remember getting out of bed and my legs were like jelly. The first thing we did was to kneel by our beds and pray for Lorraine and Scott and Jillian. I made the long journey north with family members for Tim’s heartbreaking funeral. Our family didn’t walk alone through that painful time. We weren’t left on our own. God was faithful. God is always faithful.

2009 - Dismissal from pastoring our church. Pain. Loss. Loneliness. We didn’t walk alone. We were held within God’s perfect peace.

2014 - July 4 - Randy’s passing to Glory. More shock. More pain. More grasping what it means to be carried in Christ’s constant grace. We sang this song at Randy’s funeral. Every step we were breathing in God’s grace and peace. He was and is faithful.

Always - when we look back - we see it. We see God’s grace and mercy. There is always opportunity to pour out our praise.

These events and more point me to a faithful Saviour. Never once, did I ever walk alone.

I’ll finish with Randy’s favourite hymn - MY JESUS - I LOVE THEE. When we sing this song at church, memories squeak out of my eyes and down my cheeks. I sing it as his testimony. I sing it because even way back when we were in seminary, Randy quoted this hymn at the Baccalaureate Service as he shared his testimony. It’s wonderful and the words are special. He always sang it with gusto and joy.

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine; For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;

My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou; If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me, And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;

I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow; If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death, And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow, If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight, I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;

I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow; If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Music is a gift. I never take it for granted. Even this morning as I was heading out for my beach walk - I said good morning to John, the gardener, at the apartment we’ve rented in Barbados. Last week he showed me a video of himself singing karaoke and this morning he asked me if I sang. I started singing “Oh, what a beautiful morning” from the musical Oklahoma. John joined in and we sang it together. It was a moment in time and you know - the next time I hear that song - even twenty years from now, I’ll think of this moment - this morning - when John and and I sang it together.