The touch of the Master's hand

I was just watching a video link a friend had posted that moved me. It is a video clip of woman performing on the 'Britains got talent' show. What really moved me was the reaction of the audience by this woman's appearance. Notice the audience's and the judge's response to her prior to her performance and the change that was wrought on them as she sang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

It reminded me of one of my favorite stories: The touch of the Master's Hand.

'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile: "What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar"; then, "Two!" "Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three—" But no,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.


The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice,
And going, and gone!" said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth." Swift came the reply:
"The touch of a master's hand."


And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine,
A game—and he travels on.
He's "going" once, and "going" twice,
He's "going" and almost "gone."
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand."

How quick that crowd was toss her aside like an old violin, scarcely worth their time. We are very human and prone to error in our judgement as the worth of someone or something.

I will leave you to ponder the connections between the two. It was a beautiful reminder.

Grateful for life

Life has been busy to say the least. :) I was reminded yesterday of how the Lord has blessed my life in so many ways. Even though I haven't posted for a long while, I have continued to feel that. I wanted to write something here, however brief, to help me get back in the habit.
Yesterday was a busy day-these past months have been busy. :) It seems as the semester is coming to a close, more projects and papers have come due. I had a presentation due yesterday and had been up a little late the night before, assuring I had everything all together. I had spent the majority of Monday evening with Aaron (as he is getting ready to leave-spent the evening visitng with friends for dinner) and came home to work on it a little bit. I was having a hard time focusing when I finally was able to sit down and work on it, so I opted to go to bed and get up early the following day when I was fresh. It worked out better to do that and had a few hours before class (between teaching spanish in the morning and class) and was able to focus on my part of the presentation. I was able to focus and get my part all together and even had an idea of something to add to the presentation and had the time to get it all together.
I went to my first class (not the one we were presenting in) and my professor held up a book and asked if anyone had left a book in class last week. I had misplaced my book and wasn't able to study the information I needed and was wondering what I was going to do as I couldn't afford to buy a new book. I had been praying about it and then she held up the book. It was my book, with my same bookmark I had in it. I was grateful for a Father who hears my prayers and knows my needs.
I arrived at the class I was to present in only to find out our professor was out of town presenting himself to a group and wouldn't be there. He had a substitute from our same department and she said we would wait to present when our professor was there so he could hear what we had presented. Some were upset that we had to postpone it but I was fine either way. I was reassured everything happens for a reason and we cannot SEE sometimes why things have to be as they are. So, as upsetting as change can potentially be, we must rely on that truth: God can see the big picture and is in the details of our lives. It was a group presentation with 5 other girls, so maybe it was for one of them. A couple of them weren't having the best days ever, maybe it needed to be postponed for them. All I know is that it doesn't help to get upset about it. Now we are just extra prepared and if we wanted to, we could research more and fine tune more-which I could definitely use the time to do. :)
There were several other experiences that continued throughout the day that again reminded me how the Lord is mindful of me and knows me. I am so grateful to be alive. Grateful for a weekend full of words of our leaders from General Conference, men and women called of God to guide us and direct us today.