If you’re lucky, life affords you a few moments when you feel as if you are exactly where you are meant to be, doing exactly what you are meant to be doing. Once in a while, such a moment coincides with one of your children having that very same experience, at the very same time. \u00a0So it was yesterday afternoon, as the lights dimmed for the final St. Olaf Christmas Festival concert of this year. \u00a0My husband and I had flown from New Hampshire to Minnesota for this Sunday afternoon performance. \u00a0As the audience hushed and the orchestra musicians finished tuning, the vast gymnasium grew silent, reverent. \u00a0The five choirs filed in and took their places. I didn’t expect to cry, and yet, when the violin section’s first notes rang out, sudden tears rolled down my cheeks. \u00a0There is something about seeing and hearing over six hundred student musicians, all joined together in exquisite harmony, that can prompt an already full heart to, well, overflow.<\/p>\n
A couple of hours earlier, we’d talked with Henry over lunch about the idea of him studying music abroad for a semester next year. \u00a0“Not in the fall,” he’d said definitively. \u00a0“There’s no way I’d miss Christmas Fest.”<\/p>\n
P<\/span>eering through the darkness to pick him out in the crowd — second row from the back on the long risers, dressed in a scarlet robe, eyes trained on the conductor — I understood. \u00a0Playing piano for a musical, performing in a jazz ensemble, rehearsing with singers, jamming with friends–these are all things my son loves to do. \u00a0But one discovery he’s made since he left home, went off to college, auditioned for a choir and began to take singing lessons, is that there is nothing that makes him feel more alive than to join his own voice with others.<\/p>\n Judging from the level of commitment and the talents of the St. Olaf singers, he is not alone in that. \u00a0For two breathtaking hours, those of us in the audience were swept along on a spiritual journey in song. Most of us had traveled some distance to be there; now, thanks to these gifted young musicians, we were truly transported. \u00a0 In a world that too often seems bleak and overburdened, here was redemption, hope, and light.<\/p>\n “Scatter the darkness,” the words above the stage proclaimed. \u00a0Tiny white bulbs outlined the Christmas trees on each side of the stage and shone like stars above. \u00a0Voices soared. \u00a0Harmonies wove shimmering tapestries of sound. \u00a0Slowly, sumptuously, the hymns and carols gathered in strength and power. \u00a0My son sang. \u00a0We were there to hear. \u00a0How glad I was in that moment — for him, for us, and most of all, for passions discovered, claimed, and realized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you’re lucky, life affords you a few moments when you feel as if you are exactly where you are meant to be, doing exactly what you are meant to be doing. Once in a while, such a moment coincides with one of your children having that very same experience, at the very same time. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,30,8,14],"tags":[198,219,395],"class_list":{"0":"post-176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-faith","8":"category-gratitude","9":"category-parenting","10":"category-soul-work","11":"tag-gratitude-2","12":"tag-hope","13":"tag-st-olaf","14":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/600x600.png?fit=600%2C600","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}