Monday Minute Challenge

Here's my entry for the Monday Minutes Challenge. I'm using the items prompt: rose, necklace, and piano. I submitted that one. Yay! 300 words.

Layers have dust have gathered on that old piano now. I remember when I got it, how the light reflected off the snow white keys. Even now, I can replay the fresh sound of the piano in my mind. It used to fill the room with every kind of feeling—joyfulness, sorrow, adoration, pain.

Nothing comes of it now, not one note. Sometimes I’m tempted to play one, just to hear the sound again. The temptation disappears as soon as it comes. For I know it would be ear shattering since it hasn’t been tuned in years.

Max, my brother, visited once. His eyes widen at the sight of the instrument that was often used. “Play it, Aria,” he demanded.

I grabbed his arm before he could touch the delicate keys. “I haven’t touched it in forever. It’s useless now.”

He yanks his hand away from mine. “No, it’s not,” he insisted. In seconds, he slides on the bench. Music came out of the thing. It was soft and scratchy, but music just the same.

When he finished, he stood up. “Just because it’s been silent for awhile doesn’t mean it’s broken.”

He didn’t ask about the wilted rose lying on the wood. We both know why that’s there. What  he noticed was the necklace next to it. “Did he give that to you?”

My eyes drop down to the cold metal, the broken chain. “No.”

He tried to grab my hand, but I pull it out of his reach. “Why do you keep it then?”

I look back at it. “It was cheap, but I got it because I thought it was pretty. It reminds me never to invest in something not worth my time.”

Now when I get that temptation to play, I give into it. Music again.

If you would, please pray for the creator of Monday Minutes Challenge and an amazing author, Tessa Emily Hall. She wrote on her blog today that she has Type 1 diabetes. She wrote Purple Moon, one of the best YA Christian books I've ever read. Thanks! She also does a lot her blog followers and fans. An example is the Monday Minute Challenge.

 

 

What Music Means to Me

If you've been on my blog for a little while, you might have noticed that other than books and writing, I have another obsession: music. I thought I'd take some time to write about why music is such a big part of my life and will continue to stay that way forever.

The days before music was a part of my life were dull. I think the first song that opened my mind up to the beauty of music was "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road. No, the song wasn't catchy, but it was beautiful. I think I was just learning piano at the time and loved the piano part in it. The second song was "Free to Be Me" by Francesca Battistelli,  a little more on the pop side. From there, my love for music grew.

Music speaks to me in so many ways. It's amazing how the lyrics are. Sure, you can tell who's singing by their voice, of course. You can also tell by the lyrics. I could tell a Taylor Swift song over a P!nk song any day. The feeling of the song is different.

Many times, music has in fact saved my life. Whenever I'm feeling depressed, God puts music in my head from the stranger places. He gave music as a gift to me, one of the best gifts he could ever give me. I feel alive when I listen to it. When things get chaotic in our house, music is my escape, my relief.

It reminds me of the truth. I remember things I've forgotten. To me, music always has to mean something or the song is empty. What some people don't realize is that good messages are not limited to Christian music. Sure, Christian music will always be more full than secular could ever be, but there are many amazing secular music too.

 Some people forget the importance of words in music. But music is more than just words, instruments, and a voice. Music is life and beauty. Whether it's classical or modern, music has always been beautiful. Of course, like most things, not all music is beautiful, just like words. It can change a mood, make laughter or tears. It touches the world.  One of the most amazing things in life is how three minutes can make you feel. I will continue to thank God for the gift of music.

So that's music is so important to me. What is it to you?

Songs that have touched me:

 

(Francesca Battistelli's new single. Isn't this awesome?)

 

In Christ,

Sarah

5 Books I Read that were Disappointing

I'm sorry I haven't posted the pictures yet. I wrote a post on my Blogger app, but for some reason, it's not posting. So I'll have to figure out a way to get the pictures off my iPod onto the computer, which might take some time now that school's starting.

But to hold you off until then, I'm writing this post. I really should call it: 5 books where I set the bar way too high and was miserably disappointed. But hey, that's too long.

Because I liked these stories. I'm not discouraging from reading them. (Well, except a few maybe) But when I read these books, I was super excited. As a result, I put up high standards for these books and they weren't met completely. Some of these I didn't finish, though I wish I could have. I will explain below how this worked.


1. The Serpent's Shadow, by Rich Riordan, book three in the Kane Chronicles Series.

I never expected this series to be as great as the Percy Jackson. Of course, the two books before this one were great. Not as awesome as Percy Jackson, but still a good read. But this book exploded a bit. Like The Last Olympian, I expected to have a thrilling climax and final battle. What I got was something much less. T hey spent so much time preparing for the final battle that when it actually happened, it fizzed out. And the love triangle conclusion.... one of the most weirdest things I've ever read.

2. Divergent by Veronica Roth
Okay, I know, many of you amazing reads love this book. And I want to say, I love it too. I loved almost everything about it. So why am I putting this on my list? Because when I got hyped up to read it, I read from her blog that Ms. Roth is a professing Christian. I'm not saying she isn't a Christian, but I figured that the book would at least be a little more clean than it was. Translation: Tris and Tobias. It wasn't so much the fact that they did what they did. What bugged me was that the"scenes" went out for too long. No, they didn't go all the way and I can give them that. But they hinted that they would. Apparently, it gets worse too. My cousin complained about the second and he's not a Christian. I know not all Christians believe that kissing before marriage is wrong, but they did more than just kiss.

3. Prodigy by Marie Lu
This book was a sequel to Legend. Legend was hands-down amazing. It wasn't squeaky clean, but it was decent. The characters, the plot, the excitement... just awesome. As you imagine, I was more than excited to get into the series and couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. I got 100+ pages into it before putting it down. There were two gay characters. The first one I could live with since it was a little reverent to the plot. But the second guy.... Not. Needed. At. All.  Sadly, I stopped then.

4. The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan.
Once again, I'm not discouraging you from reading these books. All I'm saying is that I was disappointed. These books were good. But I heard they were better than the Percy Jackson series. They weren't. I understand. It's hard to live up to such awesomeness. The main reason is because they were too many couples. Not all couples can be as sweet as Percy and Annabeth, but it felt all the romance was rushed between the others. I've only read the first three books of this series.

5. The Death Cure by James Dashner, the conclusion to The Maze Runner trilogy.
I'm putting this last because I believe this is the worst. Here's my summary opinion of this series: The first one was great. The second one was okay. And the third one was... horrible. It wasn't writing style. The last thing it had was a dull plot. The violence was horrifyiing. My favorite character, who if he had to die, deserved a heroic death, passed away in the worst way possible. I'm not exaggerating. At least The Hunger Games characters died protecting someone. I didn't even understand the ending.

I didn't hate of any of these books, excluding the last one. For one reason or another, I was disappointed with these novels. Because of the plot, not the writing. This will all lead up to the point of this post, which I will write later.

In other news, I survived my first day of high school? How about you? What books did you read this year that were disappointing one way or another? I'd love to hear them. If anyone would like to write a post like this, I highly encourage it.

We're back!

Bernie and I are back from vacation. Well, it's good to be back and great to be on this blog. I want to thank Julia for guest posting. Yes, I have read two of those books and adore them so please check them out. Read what Julia said below about good Christian fiction.

I'm going to post some pictures later, but here's a short outline of our trip. We drove for awhile to TN, went past Nashville. The next day we saw the mountains and met a friend in NC.... then went back again to Columbia, SC. (I've never been to those states. They were awesome)

From there, we traveled to Savannah, GA. It was amazing. There were these huge oak trees that shaded everything. It was a lot hotter than what we're use to, but that was one of the only cons. And the best part was...

THE OCEAN! We'd never seen the ocean so this was a big deal for us. It was beautiful. We even watched the sun go down. It didn't set over the ocean, but it reflected off the water, making it breath-taking. We went there three times. Okay, let's just say it wasn't the best visit because of the jellyfish. Apparently they're very bad over there. We all got stung, along with many other visitors. Using our "Video Star" app, Bernie and I made a video at the ocean of "All of Me", a amazing song by John Legend, perfect for the pretty beach.

We did many things in Savannah, including going on a Dolphin Tour. The dolphins were awesome. On the way home, we stopped at Atlanta and Nashville. I didn't get to see Taylor Swift, but it was still a great city. I walked in the Bridgestone Arena, where many of my favorite artists have played. I got a TS mini calendar... heehee.

Yes, perhaps some of you have heard Taylor Swift's new song. Personally, I don't think it's one of her bests, but I love the message. I'll probably post more thoughts on the song. She's pop now.

I read Captives by Jill Williamson. Wow, that's an awesome book. It might be just as good as the Blood of Kings trilogy, (another thing Julia talked about in her guest post) I MUST read the next book. I also got two new books at Lifeway. Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton. You've probably heard of her... and a book by one of my favorite Christian authors, Melody Carlson.

Thank you for taking time to read this rambling post. I promise it will be more interesting when I get around to posting pictures. Thank you, God, for all the beauty in Your creation.

In Christ,
Sarah