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I think I would have been a good step dancer in my early years. I never took tap dancing, but I sure did try it out in my parent’s living room when no one was watching, and maybe when my sisters were watching, you know, to make them laugh at my antics! Whether it’s step dancing, ballet, or fiddle playing, there are some things I dreamed about doing that I never have. But there’s always tomorrow!
Fiddle music became a beloved sound in my teen years while attending a worship service led by a Canadian folk music team featuring the fiddle in very lively Canadian-celtic style worship songs. Oh how I loved it. Folk music became as belovedly intriguing as classical, and my curiosity was piqued.
When our daughter was 3 years old, we took her to see a dear church friend perform for her university performance in violin. She was incredible and took our breath away. One of the times she came to visit, she brought her violin for our daughter to hold. Many years later, our daughter asked to learn the violin. It was during this time that I recalled the name of Natalie MacMaster, a Canadian fiddle virtuoso. As we drove to and from lessons, I would play Natalie’s music in our car to inspire my daughter.
Volcanic Jig became one of our favorites, not only for its Canadian-Celtic flare, but also because we live in a state that has several magnificent volcanoes, and living the majority of my life in the Pacific Northwest, the views of Mount Baker, and now Mount Adams and Mount Rainier became landmarks in my own story of place and home. I grew up looking out the windows of our home in southern British Columbia to the beauty of Mt Baker across the border. So many memories are connected with those mountains, they feel more like friends than monuments in the distance.
Natalie MacMaster is from Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada and married to Donnell Leahy of the famous Leahy fiddling and step dancing family. Their seven children join them on stage with their own fiddles in their live performances! If you enjoy violin and fiddle, I have no doubt you will become an adoring fan of their music and live performances.
Enjoy this video of a live performance of Volcanic Jig and this one of the MacMaster-Leahy kids joining their musical parents on stage!
Today is St Patrick’s Day, and they are releasing their newest album, Canvas! I look forward to playing this album as I prepare our favorite St Patrick’s Day meal!
In the mid-1990’s, I graduated from high school, worked for a year to save up all my cash so that I could attend a Christian discipleship school for a year called His Hill Bible School in Comfort, Texas. It was amazing! It was my first year flying the nest and the Lord took me on many adventures including being immersed in the Bible 5 hours a day for 5 days a week. I grew so much. We were also paired up with a mentor into small discipleship groups of 2-3 students. One day, I needed to process some struggles I was having and my mentor met with me to chat. She opened her Bible to Psalm 63 and read it aloud. It was the very cry of my heart, the desperate attempt to put into words what I longed to express to the Lord, and my yearning to know Him more deeply. This passage became a treasure:
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63:1-8 NASB
God’s love is better than life and my soul knows this very well. It is also the theme of one of Caroline Cobb’s new songs on an upcoming album called Psalms: The Poetry of Prayer. Better Than Life (Psalm 63) has been on repeat in my truck these days, God’s Word set to music, filling my soul with worship to the King. I hope it blesses you too as winter passes the baton to spring, as baby chicks grow their feathers and adjust to their coop, and petals unfurl to add color, brightness, and warmth to our days.
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