Harken, Harken

Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 7:27 a.m. – I woke to this song in my head:

Funiculi funicula / Denza / Turco
http://everything2.com/e2node/Funiculi%2520funicula

Some think the world is made for fun and frolic
And so do I, and so do I
Some think it well to be all melancholic
To pine and sigh, to pine and sigh
But I, I love to spend my time in singing
Some joyous song, some joyous song
To set the air with music bravely ringing
Is far from wrong, is far from wrong

Harken, harken, music sounds afar
Harken, harken, music sounds afar
Tralalala, tralalala, tralalala, tralalala
Joy is everywhere - Funiculi funicula!

I also woke from A DREAM: I was to interview two people for a class project. I sat down at the table with a man who had a PHD. He agreed to allow me to interview him. It was noisy outside the room so I tried to close the door. The PHD man said he wanted it open, so I tried closing it only half-way, but the door was either open or it was closed – there was no half-way.

We began talking, but the man kept getting distracted with other people coming into the room or with music he was playing on a stereo, etc., and we really did not get very far with the interview. A woman supervisor of some kind (maybe a department head) came into the room, saw that I was interviewing him, and gave me some literature to read on his particular field of study.

The PHD guy made some kind of snide remark about the Bible or concerning people with Bibles and yet he acclaimed the great value of worldly knowledge. I was supposed to meet with him and with one other person once a week for six weeks. His supervisor suggested a 30 minute session the next time, which I thought was fine as long as he didn’t keep getting distracted by other people and things.

Then, the next time I met with him, his supervisor was in the room with him. She encouraged him to tell me something, but he was hesitant. The bottom line was that he could not interview with me anymore. They skirted around the issue, but the reality of the subject at hand was that they did not want me because the man saw Bibles in my home.

I walked through the music room on the way out of there and my music teacher offered to allow me to interview her, but I knew someone else was interviewing her and I was concerned she might be overloaded; that it might be too much on her.

In here somewhere I was visiting with my daughter and daughters-in-law and grandchildren somewhere. They seemed to be on some kind of vacation. I was taking care of one of the granddaughters and needed diapers, I think, for her. Then, I was supposed to write her name on a plastic drinking cup as well as on the front page of a coloring book, but I kept writing the name “Rachel,” instead. So, I just added my other granddaughter’s name since I could not erase Rachel’s name. My other granddaughter’s name is Finnish for Catherine.

There was a scene where my husband was the guard in some kind of a building. Something happened in the building – not sure what – but I ended up running into this PHD man again. He had been talking with my husband and he thought my husband was on his side even though he was not even aware that the guard was my husband.

Then we were all together on a floor in the building. My husband and I both called some children by their names, but the man did not catch on that the children were ours until we finally told him and we asked him to be with us in some kind of battle.

Then, I sent out my partially written interview with the PHD man to see if anyone would volunteer to finish the interview with me in place of the PHD guy. END

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Jeremiah 31: "At that time," declares the LORD, "I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people."
2 This is what the LORD says:
"The people who survive the sword
will find favor in the desert;
I will come to give rest to Israel."
3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
4 I will build you up again
and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out to dance with the joyful.

…6 There will be a day when watchmen cry out
on the hills of Ephraim,
'Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.' "
7 This is what the LORD says:
"Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
'O LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.'
8 See, I will bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the lame,
expectant mothers and women in labor;
a great throng will return.

9 They will come with weeping;
they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel's father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
10 "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations;
proclaim it in distant coastlands:
'He who scattered Israel will gather them
and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.'
11 For the LORD will ransom Jacob
and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.
12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD—
the grain, the new wine and the oil,
the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden,
and they will sorrow no more.

13 Then maidens will dance and be glad,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
14 I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
and my people will be filled with my bounty,"
declares the LORD.
15 This is what the LORD says:
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because her children are no more."
16 This is what the LORD says:
"Restrain your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for your work will be rewarded,"
declares the LORD.
"They will return from the land of the enemy.
17 So there is hope for your future,"
declares the LORD.
"Your children will return to their own land…
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2031;&version=31;

My Understanding: Rachel – name used to personify the northern kingdom of Israel. I kept writing the name “Rachel” instead of Kaisa which is Finnish for Catherine, so I just added her name. I believe the Lord is paralleling the northern kingdom of Israel with Finland where this took place this morning:

Gunman opens fire at school in Finland, 9 dead / Sep 23, 8:15 AM (ET)By MATTI HUUHTANEN
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - A gunman opened fire at a vocational school for adults in western Finland on Tuesday before shooting himself, police said. Finnish media reported nine people were killed and the gunman was wounded… Clips from the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado were listed among his favorite videos… http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080923/D93CDTGG0.html