Today’s Word from Karl Olsen, Minister of Music…
“Let us take hands and try the water…”
The copyright date on my song Heart of Mystery is 12/30/88. It is the title track on my first CD. The liner notes for that song say “Heart of Mystery allows that there is mystery and risk in this life of love with God. When we venture forth on these uncertain seas, we must row them with each other.”
The original inspiration for the song was drawn from the life of our friend Sally Windecker’s mom, who had recently passed. Something about going through this life with others—others to lean on, to share loss and hard times, and others with whom to celebrate the joys and successes!
But another connection is interesting. That date is right in the middle of Deb’s visit to Whidbey with me after my Christmas Eve in northern Minnesota with Deb’s family. I was in the middle of a year of study at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA. I suppose you could say that we were making the family rounds, just in case there was something to talk about!
I think we got to Whidbey about the 26th of December, and brother Vern threw a party on the 28th to introduce Deb—his buddy from their Master’s Degree program in St. Paul the previous year, and now my sweetheart—to local friends. What he didn’t know was that the day before I had proposed to Deb and she said yes! So, we got to share the news, and Vern’s wife, Martha, said “all the wishing made it so!”
“Let us share hearts and sail the sea…”
So it seems there is a global reading of those lyrics, and another very personal, intimate reading. “We start with a love where we can find it, we nurture that love with tender care. We listen and let God remind us ‘you find your treasure where your heart is.’”
There is so much of this world that needs a loving heart to help the mending, to heal the hurt and to nurture growth. And inside the heart of God there is a longing for a wholeness, and community that lifts us all. We are called to love. And we know, it’s best when we don’t venture out alone, and we know that we truly are never alone.
So carry on. One more day. Find another way to show your love, and share the love of God that sustains us, day after day.
As the song says, “Let our love stand the test, as we fathom the rest of the mystery.”
Blessings…and love.
Karl
A short P.S. You might enjoy knowing that playing flute on that song and CD was a long-before-seminary Elizabeth Felt, and playing percussion is our own Jim Nevermann!
