The Typewriter

It was a very special gift from my husband.
It was not jewelry or flowers.
It was a typewriter.

Some may scoff and say, that’s not a gift for a husband to give a wife.
But it was, and always will be, a very special gift to me.

We were only married a few years and had one daughter, with one on the way.
It wasn’t a “I don’t know what to get her” kind of gift.
It meant much more.

My husband always knew that I loved to write.
When we were first married, I wrote for the local newspaper.
The Sunday edition had a column for freelance writers.
I was published a few times and saw the incredible value of the written word.

When the children started to come, my time was limited.
One child after another arrived…blessings from His Hand.
So much to pour into them…so much to teach them…so much to enjoy!

When my husband gave me the typewriter he said something I will never forget.
This is for you…so you can write again…I know you can do it!
Simple…but the words spoke volumes to me.

Someone very important to me believed in the gift God gave me.
The gift may have been on the back burner for the time, but it was waiting to be used.
Waiting to be taken off the shelf.

The typewriter my husband gave to me was electric one.
Far from the old manual typewriter on which many of my college papers were typed.
When we finally got a computer, it was much easier to do my writing there.
The typewriter went into the attic.

Back in elementary school, there was an opportunity to study either Spanish or typing.
I chose typing.
We sat in special desks with headphones.
We listening to someone explain where to put your fingers on the keyboard.
There were time tests and proficiency tests.
It has served me well.

Our children grew up with technology exploding around them.
Skills we had to learn, they seemed to intuit.

One thing I always found amusing about a typewriter, was its sound.
The syncopated rhythm of the keys.
The click of the carriage.
The ringing of the bell as you advanced to the next line.

Think of the journalists who wrote breaking news on an old manual typewriter.
Think of the writers that wrote Pulitzer Prize winning novels.
Think of the carbon paper that went between sheets of paper so copies could be made.
Think of the white out or correction paper that was needed when a mistake was made.

There was no delete button.
No copy and paste.
No highlighting and shifting text around.
How much easier it is now.

But the nostalgia…

A friend in Ireland sent me a video.
It is a video of a June 2011 concert.
Members of the National Orchestra and Chorus of Spain in Madrid played a piece by American composer Leroy Anderson (1908-1975).
The piece was entitled, The Typewriter.

I sat and watched…amazed.
How can an everyday object like a typewriter make music?

I watched the soloist, Alfredo Anaya, play his typewriter.
The sheer joy on his face!
He made the ordinary sound of a typewriter a vital part of the orchestra.
The audience was enthralled.

Only the Creator God, who put His image in us, could enable us to be that creative.
We carry around magnificent, untapped creativity…just waiting on a shelf.
It is ready to be used.
Used for His Glory.
Used so that the ordinary things around us become instruments of praise.

Praise the Lord.
Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness, Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre, praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the strings and flute, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. (Psalm 150)

The truth is…everything can be an instrument of praise!
Our heart, that belongs to Him.
Our talent, which He has given us.
Ourselves, as head to toe worshipers.

A symphony of praise that is no longer ordinary.
Worship that erupts in the strangest places.

Get off the shelf!
Praise Him with all you have.
The more ordinary…the better.
Praise Him with a typewriter if you must.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

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Watch the performance of The Typewriter by the Members of the National Orchestra and Chorus of Spain in Madrid.