Thank You for Your Family Commitment
Saturday morning began early with a trip to Cookeville to watch two of our grandsons, ages 8 and 11, play their first game of basketball. In the afternoon, we watched their 13-year-old sister play her first game of the season (she played last year, too). Our area is blessed with a group of Christians who are committed to providing children and teens the opportunity to play team basketball outside of the public schools. Some volunteer as organizers, others as coaches, and others as referees. Teams practice about once a week and play one game a week in church gyms. Each game begins with a devotional. Our son John played in a similar program when we were homeschooling in the 1990s.
In between the games, Ray and I hung out at Notgrass History headquarters working on our Christmas cards — better late than never, right?
When our granddaughter’s game was over, we hurried back to Gainesboro to attend a casual concert of the Jackson County High School Band in Blue. Two of the girls in our Wednesday evening Bible class play in the band. Last Wednesday evening one of them invited us to the concert which was the finale of their three-day holiday band camp. We were a little late because of the ball game but were able to find two separate seats behind the percussion section in the crowded band room. My seat was near an older lady whose walker stood in front of her.
This was my first time to view a concert from this vantage point. I loved taking in the music and the scene before, below, and above me. Student-created art related to music covered every ceiling tile of the large room. Music charts and motivational posters covered every wall and cabinet. Dozens and dozens of trophies stood on top of the lockers at the back of the room. Mr. Carroll Gotcher, the talented, highly motivated, and devoted band director who is in his 29th year with the Jackson County Band, introduced the pieces and their composers before the whole band and various ensembles of single instruments performed each piece.
Mr. Carroll Gotcher during the 2023 Christmas concert
of the Cookeville Community Band
The scenes in the band room brought back memories of my own flute playing days in the high school band. I especially enjoyed watching members of the percussion section move from one instrument to another. Mr. Gotcher has gathered an impressive collection.
Percussion practice at a national music camp
in Interlochen, Michigan, during World War II.
Photo by Arthur S. Siegel. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Slowly I realized from my rear view that in addition to the other spectators at the back with Ray and me, parents were scattered throughout the band, sitting beside their children. I spotted the sweet mother of one of our Wednesday night students sitting in the flute section. Her deep devotion to her only child is inspirational. After the concert, I got to greet the three band members that I know personally. My heart was full after this day of watching children I love participate in wholesome group activities while their admiring loved ones watched and encouraged them.
As Ray and I left the band room, the older lady with the walker asked me if she knew me. I didn’t recognize her at all and figured it was one more incident of someone recognizing my evidently generic face. It wasn’t the first time that someone has told me, “You look just like so and so.” As the lady and I sought to see if we had a connection, she told me that she lives in a nursing home in an adjoining county. She told me that she is the great, great, great grandmother (!) of one of the band members and tries not to miss any of the child’s events!
Wow! That’s family commitment! Her commitment and the commitment of the family member who makes sure that she gets there!
Thank you for your commitment to your family and the ways you are fulfilling that commitment today. Psalm 78 encourages a multi-generational view of life.
My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
They would not be like their ancestors—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
Psalm 78:1-8