The Circle of our Lives

photo courtesy of kazuya-akimoto.com

It would be easy to re-enter blogging with a post about my daughter, Laura, who is a senior in high school this year. Even another with my daughter, Katy, and her new fiance, Jeff. Don't get me wrong, these will be coming, however today I'm remembering our family's first exposure to children's choral music in Florida. This experience in January, 2001 was through the eyes of my daughter, Emma.

She was just beginning 5th grade when her music teacher, Ms. Henderson, suggested she audition for the Florida Elementary All-State Choir. After much hard work, she experienced something that truly changed the course of her life, because it was while working with Dr. David Brunner she decided she wanted to become a music teacher. She is well on her path to accomplishing that goal, and little did she know at the age of 10 how much more hard work was ahead of her to realize her dream!


I am directing the new children's choir at my church, Harvest UMC. We are singing a song, "Alshlosha D'Varim", in October that Emma had also done at this first All-State concert. Last evening I pulled the cd, and as the entire playlist progressed, I was reminded of the song Dr. Brunner had written entitled "The Circle of our Lives", based on the poem by Wendell Berry, "Closing The Circle". While listening to these young voices, knowing my now-junior-in-college-then-10-year-old daughter was among them, I was brought to tears with the lyrics: "The circles turn, each giving into each, into all." .

Enjoy it in it's entirety-

Closing The Circle
by Wendell Berry

Within the circle of our lives
we dance the circle of the years,
the circles of the seasons
within the circles of the years,
the cycles of the moon
within the circles of the season,
the circles of our reasons
within the cycles of the moon.

Again, again we come and go,
changed, changing. Hands
join, unjoin in love and fear,
grief and joy. The circles turn,
each giving into each, into all.
Only music keeps us here,
each by all the others held.
In the hold of hands and eyes
we turn in pairs, that joining
joining each to all again.

And then we turn aside, alone,
out of the sunlight gone
into the darker circles of return.

Dr. David Brunner directing one of many youth choirs

"Within the circle of our lives we dance the circle of the years"

Here's to The Dance!

Update: Despite repeated attempts to enclose an audio to this sweet performance, it's not happening! If anyone can explain how to do it, I'd love to share an audio of the song!!