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Some people, believe it or believe it not, are fascinated by dictionaries of quotations – and I’m one of them. If it's such a book, then I'm, too, a sucker for it!
A quotation that often amuses me is one by a 19th century clergyman, Sydney Smith. Amongst other things, he said: ‘My idea of heaven is eating pâte de foie gras to the sound of trumpets’.
There's no accounting for taste, it’s true, but my idea of heaven would be a plateful of grilled prawns, swimming in garlic butter, and eaten to the music of a pipe organ, and washed down with a glass of chilled white wine!
My piece of music would be Widor's Toccata in F. Whenever I listen to it, I marvel at the sounds of a skilled organist playing what is the grandest of all musical instruments. It sets my pulse racing – even when there are no prawns available! It's really only the sound of wind, created by bellows and expressed through oddly sized pipes, yet it creates a symphony of sounds inspiring and delighting me.
Because it's an ordinary everyday commodity, we often take the wind for granted. It’s the wind that carries the rain clouds, dries our clothes and lifts jet planes from airport runways. It’s wind which is the air we breathe and, without it, we couldn't survive. When the writers of the Bible wanted to describe the way in which God works in our world, they used the same words to describe the wind and the power of God's Spirit to change and renew human life. Maybe we'll have to make it through the day without prawns and garlic butter, but if we play life the Jesus way, allowing God to billow through our decisions and actions, we'll be a little closer to heaven. Many a person has found that life blown by the Spirit is one of creation's greatest adventures.
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