How coordinated are you? Can you pat your head with one hand and rub your tummy with the other? If you can, I challenge you to try playing the pipe and tabor. These instruments were used hundreds of years ago in England and Europe, not only to accompany dancers but also to accompany troops in battle. The challenge is that you have to play both the pipe and the tabor (drum) at the same time. The pipe is like a whistle that has just three holes, and the drum is hung from the arm that is holding the pipe. You strike the drum with a stick held in your free hand while you play the pipe, hopefully together!Since July is the month to celebrate Independence Day, a little history of the use of instruments in battle is appropriate. Although the pipe and tabor were from an earlier era and part of the world, the Revolutionary armies did march to the sounds of the fife and drum. The drum beat kept the soldiers marching together, and the fife, which is similar to a    piccolo, could be heard over the sounds of artillery and battle because of its high, piercing sound. The fife was also used to give battle and marching instructions to the infantry while the bugle was used for the same purpose in the   artillery. Fifers and drummers were younger members of the army, and their positions could be very dangerous as they were usually toward the front of the advancing infantry.One of the most popular songs during the American Revolution was “Yankee Doodle Dandy”. Interestingly, it was one of the most popular songs among the British soldiers also. It actually surfaced during the French and Indian War, and   it was the British way of ridiculing the colonials.  “Doodle” referred to a fool or a simpleton; “Dandy” referred to a   pompous gentleman, and “macaroni” referred to a fancy style of Italian dress imitated in England. The British thought the Americans nothing more than country bumpkins who felt sticking a feather in their coonskin caps would make them fashionable, yet those rough colonials defeated the largest, most powerful army in Europe to gain their freedom.As you celebrate July 4^th, be proud to live in a country of “one God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.

Elaine Jaeke

Keeping perspective in all circumstances  “…for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.”  - Philippians 4:11-12

Paul writes about living in the best of circumstances and in the worst of circumstances. When have you done this in your life? Which circumstances were easier to deal with?

Eddie Ogan tells this story:  Dad died five years ago, when I was 14. My sister Darlene was 16 and my other sister Ocie was 9. We knew what it was like to do without, but we never thought of ourselves as poor. We loved each other. We all pitched in. We were happy.One Sunday our pastor announced, “For the next thirty days I invite you to give a special gift of money for a poor family. Think of every way you can save money, or sacrifice something, or earn some extra money. In thirty days you will make the poor family happy. Mom and we three kids were so excited. Mom said we could buy a 50 lb. bag of potatoes and eat them for thirty days. Darlene said she could clean houses for people. I said I would do some yard work for our neighbors. Ocie said she would pick up pop bottles and turn them in for money. We also bought some cotton loops to make big potholders to sell.That was the happiest month I can remember. Every so often we’d count the coins and see how much we had. We thought about the poor family and how surprised they’d be. At the end of the thirty days, Ocie and I took all the coins to the bank and exchanged them for three crisp $20 bills and one $10  dollar bill. We were so excited. We had never had that much money before.The next day, Sunday, we were so happy. We looked forward to the special offering. Ocie put in a $20 bill. I put in $20 and Darlene put in $20. Mom put in the $10 bill. We celebrated all the way home. We felt so good. When we sat down to eat, we prayed, “God bless the poor family. Thank you for blessing us to be able to give something.”That afternoon, our pastor came to visit us. Mom went to the door and they talked for a minute. Then Mom came and sat down at the kitchen table. She didn’t say a word. “What did the pastor say?” we asked. Mom didn’t answer. She just lifted up an envelope and turned it over. A lot of money fell out. We couldn’t believe it. We were the poor family. Hadn’t the pastor said so? We counted the money. There were three crisp $20 bills, a $10 bill and seventeen $1. That was the gift from the whole congregation. I didn’t like being poor. It was my saddest week since Dad died. That week we went to school as usual, but none of us said much to anyone. On Saturday night, Mom said, “I don’t feel like going to church tomorrow, but we are going. Will you please think of some ideas of what to do with the money?” We said nothing.That Sunday we had a missionary visit our congregation. He told us how his people built their own churches. They often built the walls and then ran out of money to build the roof. The missionary said, “A roof costs more than $100.00 and that is a lot of money for us.” At that moment, Darlene, Ocie, Mom and I all looked at each other and smiled. We put the money into the mission offering. After they counted the money, our pastor announced, “The special offering was $110.00!” The missionary was so excited and said, “We never expected such a large gift from a small congregation. You must have a rich family in your church.” Our family looked at each other, knowing that we had given $87 of the $ 110. We realized that we must be “the rich family in church!” Hadn’t the missionary said so? From that day on, I never again thought of myself as poor.”Reflecting on your childhood, did you think of your family as rich, poor, or in the middle? How did this perception influence your relationship peers? How about your relationship with God?Prayer: Lord God, you have given me so much. There may be times of plenty and times of scarcity, but help me to see that you are always with me. And please give me one thing more - a joyful heart. Amen.

Money Leadership devotions are developed by the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission Unit of the ELCA.