Whoa! This choir year is almost over! When I started serving in the middle of the church choir year here at First Presbyterian, I started without much preparation. My previous experiences as a church musician helped me out a bit. Without the patience and warm-hearted team spirit of our choir members, and encouragement from church members, however, I couldn't have survived up to this point. I thank the God for you! (This was the anthem we sang on Mother's Day Sunday.)

Now we enjoy the outdoors with the spring weather. I started digging in my backyard a couple of weeks ago to repair some portions of my backyard. I killed everything in that area a month ago because there were too many strong weeds. While digging and mixing with dirt and yard nutrition soil, I was amazed by the power of strong life going on in nature. There are lots of activities going on under the ground. Worms, roots of weeds, and grass try to find their spots for living. Even after a couple hours of digging, I found that many roots of weeds already started gripping the dirt so firmly and worms were moving here and there.

I think God gives every creature the power of life to survive and flourish. We were born with this too. And the summer season we enjoy and observe how these lives are striving after their long time of preparation during the winter for the peak time of their lives. Musicians, like our church choir members and me, may need to go in a different way. Summer is our preparation period for the coming choir year. Searching for new music, revisiting beloved music, and learning and re-sharpening our music skills will be part of our efforts this season. I know how important this time of year is for me and my fellow musicians. This will be a kind of savings account for us for coming years!

So, let us enjoy the fullness of life around us and at the same time look for every possible opportunity for re-energizing our musical enthusiasm during the summer.

By the way, we will gather every 2nd Sunday in June, July and August under the name of "Summer Choir" and sing for the service. The song will be simple enough for everyone who has a voice, guaranteed!