WELCOME TO WONDERLAND WHIMSIES

WHAT IS A WONDER???

My, My... I guess it is something you

WONDER about don't you think? So
many wonders in the world.. one might
get dizzy just thinking about them...
But, lets step into Wonderland
and discover some...

first one down the Rabbit Hole is it!



NOW, WHEREVER DID THAT RABBIT GO?

OH MY! I'M FALLING

Friday, June 17, 2011

IT'S ONLY A PAPER MOON!


 















Good Morning!
I want to share with you what the Lord sang to me this morning, but I think it would make more sense to you if you read the lyrics and listened to the song first, I don’t know how many of you are old enough to remember the song as it was written in 1933, thirteen years before I was even born and I will be 65 the end of this month, so it is for sure an oldie:

IT’S ONLY A PAPER MOON LYRICS
Songwriters: ROSE, BILLY / HARBURG,
E. Y. / ARLEN, HAROLD 1933

I never feel a thing is real
When I'm away from you
Out of your embrace
The world's a temporary parking place

Mmm, mm, mm, mm
A bubble for a minute
Mmm, mm, mm, mm
You smile, the bubble has a rainbow in it

Say, it’s only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me

Yes, it's only a canvas sky
Hanging over a muslin tree
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me

Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played in a penny arcade

It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me


Here is a super video on a BlogSpot with photos of people sitting on a paper moon and you can hear the song too!

It's Only A Paper Moon lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., S.A. MUSIC, "NEXT DECADE ENTERTAINMENT,INC."


Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole is who I remember singing it when I was younger, so I have also included the YouTube video “It’s only a Paper Moon”


I don’t know how many of you remember Baby Rosemarie, but she was a great little singer with a grown up voice back in the days of Shirley Temple.  She sings some cute songs about the moon on this old video:

Baby Rosemarie - Take a picture of the Moon
But, first I need to give you a tiny history of how the Paper Moon got started.
Years ago, for a very brief while, my Grandmother was in Vaudeville!  The mode of entertainment in those days was for performers to do skits and such onstage to amuse their audiences.  The actresses and actors performed their plays and the like on an artificial stage much like the ones used today, but of course it was much more primitive back then. 

A stage setup popular back then was with a large paper moon hung with a hidden seat for entertainers to sit on, so it looked as though they were sitting on the moon!  Trees were made of painted muslin, stars were cut out of cardboard, painted yellow and hung with string, everything was fake.  Waves were also cut out cardboard, painted and placed upright along the back of the stage to give the impression of the sea, and sometimes they would blow fans upon the waves so they looked like they were real!

IT’S ONLY A PAPER MOON
I woke up this morning with the song “Paper Moon” ringing in my ears.  I could hear the voice of someone else singing the song from years ago in my head, a person I had heard doing a rendition of this song, but I knew it was God who was ultimately singing this song to me into my spirit.  As I listened to the words going over in my head, I began to cry, thinking about the fact that His children are always on His mind and in His heart, and He so longs for closeness with them in love.  It also put in my mind the scripture "He rejoices over us with singing".
He loves to see us smile and to be happy, there is promise in our smiles turned toward Him, a rainbow of color and joy!  In the song it says “you smile, the bubble has a rainbow in it”, I realized He wants us to be lighthearted and carefree like a bubble  ...when the “sunlight” hits it, and reflects prisms off the bubble... you can see a colorful rainbows, which are God’s promise to us.  I had never considered that when we are turned to Him and centered on Him alone, and smiling, it is like a beautiful rainbow to Him. WOW!   We are His bride and He is our bridegroom.  It made me think about how when my husband smiles at me, it causes my heart to sing.  The thought of Him singing to me this morning made my heart sing with great JOY, and it sure did make me smile and cry at the same time!  When my husband and I were dating long distance ... he was from Iowa, and I was from Florida .. it was so difficult when we were not together ... it only seemed real when we were together .. as in the words to the song this morning.."I never feel a thing is real when I'm away from you, out of your embrace.  Many people over the years have asked me why I am so excited to go home and be with the Lord?  My answer has been "I have been there with Him ... nothing is more real than in His presence", it's true .. and to think God himself feels that way when we are apart.. He is just as excited waiting for us as we are for Him!!!  We get a foretaste of this when we have alone time with God .. kind of like a loving long distance conversation with your betrothed, but there is nothing like being with him in person... all else fades.
The words to the song are for all of us.  It is a call to draw near to Him.  He misses us when our lives get so busy, we forget about Him. When we allow the cares of this world to pull us down, we frown and lose our smile.  The world is plastic and artificial when we do not believe in Him, trusting and relying upon Him, our beloved.  I think more than anything that is what He is trying to teach us in these days. Those who know God realize this world is only a temporary parking place, for we are sojourners on our way to a better place.  Reality is knowing all that matters, is the relationship we have with Him, no matter what we see, ... the crazy three ring circus of this world
These days it is like a three ring circus ... so busy, with so much going on at the same time.  It reminded me of a time when my son Todd had been with some friends and came home all excited saying: “Want to see me juggle?”!  He was married and in college at the time and his life was jam packed.  I thought to myself as he was working to keep all the balls up in the air... “My this is how life in the fast lane is”! He still manages to juggle well mainly I believe due to the fact that he has a strong sense of priorities.  Not only busyness, but what I term chaos in these days in my opinion.  God kindgom which many would consider make-believe is truly real. 
We, as believers are in this world, but not of it.  It certainly is becoming in my opinion more and more like a Freak show.  Strange and bizarre occurrences happening more and more it seems daily, and having God first brings peace.
The Penny Arcade back in the time this song was written was a game that was a form of gambling.  They had the first forms of the pinball machine, where you used pennies to try your luck, and if you won, you would get a prize.  They also had movies where you looked into the machine, and cards would flip really fast and you could see a mini film.  The music that was played in the Penny Arcades was similar to carousel music, kind of the same thing over and over, flight of fancy melodious tunes you only heard back then in this place of non-reality.  They also had fortune teller machines at the arcades, and other games of chance.  How many today are going helter skelter trying to find answers to their dilemmas, instead of coming to the source?  This is so easy to do when we are what seems to be hemmed in on all sides with no apparent way out.  HELP LORD!
A honky tonk parade as sung in the song was a bar type atmosphere with country type music, maybe a smoke filled room with cheap music, girls and liquor.  Others say it was a parade of souped up vehicles and trucks mainly that parade up and down the main thoroughfare on weekend nights as they do in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN.  People bring out their chairs and sit on the sidewalks just watching all the activity going by.  It is always fun to do once a year or so and part of the flavor of the area.  However, they didn’t have souped up vehicles back then that I know of, so the bar scene is what I think it is about.  I am not a drinker, but I believe God was speaking to me this morning about those who are thinking reality is nothing but fun and games.  He is all for us having clean fun, but He does not want us to live there. His desire for us is balance.  I hope I am getting across here what I am trying to convey.  I in no way am condemning, I just know God wants our focus to be Kingdom breathed. 
I believe the message in His song to me this morning is that He wants and has always wanted a “REAL” relationship with those He has created. 
Oh God how we need You every second of our lives.  We know that only believing and trusting in you makes it real.  You are reality. All the fake and worthless becomes meaningless in the reality of who You are and Your Kingdom causes us to stretch out our faith and our hand to You no matter what we see in this artificial world.  I  am now thinking of the book by Watchman Nee, I have so loved for over 27 years, “Normal Christian Life”.  It made me realize that this world is turned topsy turvy from the real.  The way the world sees things compared to those who live in the Kingdom of God is totally different. 
I want to continually smile upon You no matter what I see in the natural, Father God. Help me in my unbelief in all areas. Cause my heart to trust, rely and believe in You for all things. Oh what joy Your song brought to my heart this morning to think the God of Creation would sing to his children, and that I would make you smile!
Oh, and Good Morning My Lord, and thank You for singing to me this morning, I am totally captivated with Your love!
Love,
Your adoring Donsie

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