Choir

February 22

I am thankful for my church choir and being able to participate in it. We have a small choir at my church but it's always been most inspirational and just plain fun to me. I've been singing tenor in it for about 15 years now and I do so enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, I consider it a blessing that they allow me to sing, since I don't have a good voice, but I sort of plod along trying to mimic the good tenor voices in the choir. Sometimes I am so uplifted by the music that I have to remind myself not to sing too loudly because I don't want my noise to be heard above the good voices. I especially love singing harmony tenor. When a great message in lyrics is combined with a beautiful melody, it brings me closer to God and, hopefully, people in the congregation.

I took this photo on Ash Wednesday at our choir practice. I held the music with my left hand while I held the camera with my right. This is my "singer's" view of the choir and choir director, Luis.

i love to sing

i love to sing

it is so very much fun

but what are those looks

that i get from everyone

why is it so difficult

for the choir to stay on key

it seems that the only one

singing correctly is me

one day the choirmaster said  to me

“i have a special part for you-

first chair lip sync from now on

the choir will sound better if you do.”

so i now do my part

and it’s perfection if i do say

now everyone enjoys my singing

as my first chair lip sync leads the way.

© rt tulley

Doggie Walks

I am thankful for doggie walks. We go out first thing in the morning and in the evening. The dogs go crazy when I ask them if they want to go for a walk. You would almost think they were kids and I was letting them open their Christmas presents early. There is no greater joy than to see the excitement in a dogs eyes and behavior when you do something they like.

February 21

These are my dog Cupcake (on left) and my daughter Beth's dog Oakely (on right). As you can see they were pulling me along as I photographed with one hand.

doggie walks

my dog loves to go on walks

and for anyone that can see

the truth is obviously known

she is the one walking me.

© rt tulley

Humility

February 20

I am thankful for humility. Humility is that characteristic that enables us to see ourselves in relation to the whole and not exaggerate ourselves or our importance. I do feel it is important for us to realize the good that we do but we should never get so self absorbed that we overstate our importance. Looking at the night sky is one of the easiest and most universally available method for minimizing our self importance. How can we look at the stars in the sky, the magnitude of the universe, where the distance is so enormous that the light of stars can take years, hundreds or thousands of years or more just for us to see them with the eye or with the aid of a telescope, and not be humbled? If that doesn't humble us, I don't know what can. That can be compared to the scope, influence, and power of God as compared to ourselves.

This photo was taken on a normal clear but semi-hazy night, the kind you can expect in the city on a relatively clear evening. With my naked eye, I could see perhaps about 10-15 stars. I was amazed when I processed this photo that I can count more than 100 stars just in this photo. With a telescope or had I taken the photo in the country, I imagine you could see many fold more stars. There are actually billions upon billions of stars in the universe. That is mind boggling to me.

humility

there are few things i can’t do

i know for a fact that i sure am great

i am very very strong

able to lift twenty times my own weight

of all the things to do

there are so few things that i can’t

but i need to stay humble

after all, i’m only an ant.

© rt tulley