Breath of Life

Arundo donax is listed as a noxious weed in Texas, an exotic plant pest in California, an invasive weed in Hawaii, and as an invasive, exotic pest in Tennessee. Arundo donax, a.k.a., Giant Reed, is also the primary source of clarinet reeds.

My friend Martin Powell is a virtuoso clarinetist and I have been blessed to hear him perform twice in the past week. Both times he played the Adagio Movement from Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. The first time was evening in the Grand Cafe of Heritage International, the second time was morning on Prayer Mountain in Moravian Falls, NC. Whether morning or evening, large group or small, Martin was one with the instrument- the picture of discipline and devotion; public evidence of years spent in solitude. The sound produced by Martin's breath passing over a reed defies my intellect and inspires my imagination. To watch an instrument submit to a musician, as the clarinet does to Martin, confirms for me the power attainable when the created works with the creator. Teresa of Avila puts it thus, "...Martha and Mary walking together." 


 

 

View from Prayer Mountain

Genesis 2:7 reads, 'Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.' The word translated 'being' is, in the Hebrew, neh-fesh; literally- 'one who breathes'.

When Martin Powell plays Mozart's Clarinet Concerto all of creation hears the breath of life.

Martin Powell

can you hear me now?

shema

Strong's #8085

to hear, to listen, to understand, to obey

Last night, I asked my wife, "If your life was a movie, what channel would it be on?" She thought for a moment and said, "The Discovery Channel."

I like that.

So I am reading through the Old Testament in a different translation than I usually read and I come across this-

God asked Solomon,

"What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you."

Solomon said,

"Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern Your people well and know the difference between right and wrong."

An understanding heart. God liked that. In the Hebrew, the word translated understanding is

shema,

a word that is, according to my Lexical Aids to the Old Testament,

...one of the most important verbs in the Hebrew Old Testament. It appears 1,160 times. The main idea is perceiving a message or sensing a sound.'

What we all want, ultimately, is security. We want assurance that our needs are secured. The need for food, shelter, money... hope must become fact. Security must become an indelible stain on our hearts and minds because the threat of insecurity is dibilitating to the soul. Perhaps Solomon knew that to hear God is security.

"Hear (shema), O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!"