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| S. Janine directing the schola |
“You will enrich your life immeasurably if
you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge
yourself to try new things.” Nate Berkus
As
I mentioned in my last blog, I am a new member in community. Being new is always kind of scary as
insecurities seem to creep up in you. I
would have to say there are some things that I never thought I would do. But community calls forth the gifts in you
that you never knew you had. One thing I
have always dreamed I could do is to sing. But I always thought I was a little flat. In our community we have a group of women
that sing in a group called schola. Our
schola group is led by a very amazing young community member, S. Janine
Mettling. When I first came to community
and heard the schola sing I remember thinking that S. Janine must have some
really powerful singers in her group and it would not be something I could
achieve. But just recently, S. Janine
approached me and asked me if I would like to be in schola for Christmas. I explained to her that I was really flat,
but she assured me she would be able to work with what God gave me. I have been in schola now about six weeks and
the quote above so much reminds me of the way S. Janine directs the
schola. She takes each one of us where
we are and gently encourages us to challenge ourselves to try new things. She patiently goes through each part of a
song with us until we are totally comfortable with it. S. Janine even took the time to sing a
recording of the songs we are learning so that I could hear them and practice
with them. I am singing as a soprano
I. I hit an A note that I never would
have tried had Janine not encouraged me to do it anyway. She never gave up on me. I sing even when I am walking on the
treadmill! And while I may never sing a solo
for the community, I feel very confident singing with schola. Not only am I learning so much from S. Janine,
but she is making it fun too.
In
this New Year I encourage you to try something new too; you may be surprised at
what you can do.
Tammy Shoemaker, OSB
Tammy Shoemaker, OSB
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