You Have Been Good -- Twila Paris

 

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.” Then the very One who dismissed the compliment from a rich man told him that, besides keeping the commandments, he needed to part with his money (Mark 10:18-22; Luke 18:19-23). Oh, that one smarts, Jesus! Perhaps Twila Paris would have been caught off guard as much as the rest of us, when Jesus said these words. First, He says something puzzling, and then He issues a really challenging footnote for us followers. Nevertheless, you could imagine that Twila understood what Jesus was saying, when she declared that “You Have Been Good”, and that probably she would be as confident as the rest of us in picking out the Good versus the Evil in this 19^th Century work of art (The Temptation of Christ, by Ary Scheffer). In this artwork, Jesus is just beginning His earthly ministry when He confronted Satan (Matthew 4); Twila reminds us that all He accomplished after this wilderness clash with the enemy is why we now can say ‘Good’ when we call out to Him.

 

Twila Paris had been singing and worshipping the Good One for over 20 years when she penned ‘You Have Been Good’ around 1988. She was truly ‘Little Twila Paris’ when she’d first started singing as a youngster, all of seven years old, and so by the time she was 30, the faith with which she’d been raised was deep within her. You could guess that she thought this faith was worth spreading, for this song she wrote is part of the 1988 album named For Every Heart. What was motivating Twila in 1988, after she had already cut six albums, including five as an adult in the early to mid-1980s? Today, she’s written so many songs and produced so many albums, that maybe even Twila might not be able, with pinpoint accuracy, to remember what brought about her personal address to this Good God. But, the crucial part of this episode in the late 1980s was that she enumerated a number of good things in His relationship to us. Indeed ‘all generations’ can applaud His faithful goodness. His ’steadfast love and tender mercy’ are at the root of the ‘salvation’ He has purchased for each of us. Being ‘fed’ by Him and led by His ‘Spirit’ are the ways He continues to care for those He has called. And finally, Twila zeroes in on this God’s character, that this ‘Almighty’ is ‘unchanging’, ‘upright’, and ‘holy’. What could be better and more reassuring than following someone you’ve identified as perfect, and knowing that He’s not going to become anything else but the good that you’ve already learned to appreciate and trust? And so, Twila wasn’t really trying to offer a lot of deep theological rationale for sticking with Him. She just wanted to tell of her own feelings for Him after two-plus decades within His shadow.

 

It’s like a love song that Twila was singing to Him, when she offered up ‘You Have Been Good’.  A couple in love, when they make their vows at a wedding, really are saying that they want to grow old together when they promise to forsake others, and ‘till death do us part’. Have you ever wondered what would either party say during those nuptials if they could actually see each other’s visage 40-50 years hence? Wrinkles, extra weight, receding hairlines, bodies potentially weakened by disease – not a pretty physical picture, is it? Consider that our groom (spiritually speaking – Revelation 18 – 22) will not change, and that He’s looking at us (His bride) with a different set of glasses than you and I might use. Kinda seems like Twila was still, in her mind, standing at the altar with Him in 1988. Actually, let’s never leave that place and time!       

 

 

See here for information on the composer/author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twila_Paris

 

Read about the author here: Welcome To TwilaParis.com (archive.org)

 

You can find the reproduction of The Temptation of Christ here (source of picture -- Good and evil - Wikipedia)

We Will Glorify -- Twila Paris

She had a new career, a direction she had considered, so she must have had a few thoughts about an overarching strategy for this plan. Perhaps it was something she wanted to be the overriding theme of her latest project, her second album as a 20-something. “We Will Glorify” was a declaration that Twila Paris made early in her career as a singer-songwriter, as a 24-year old who probably wanted to convey not just a brief message about her own intentions. She evidently thought of this as her life’s approach, and sought to bring others along for the journey. I can glorify, but what’s it like when others join in (like the picture here by Charles Sprague Pearce suggests)?   

Twila Paris’ message would not have been a surprise to anyone who’d witnessed her life up until her 24^th year, one bathed in Christian examples and habits that she continued to draw upon for her musical influence. She was an active part of her family’s evangelistic life, even as a child who before the age of 10 had recorded her first album that included hymns her father’s ministry used in his messages. She was accustomed to the group experience as a Christian believer, and must have heard God’s various names repeatedly. What would one expect to hear from Twila Paris on an album she was making in 1982 with the title Keepin’ My Eyes on You? Twila hasn’t shared exactly what made “We Will Glorify” spring from her consciousness that year, perhaps because it’s pretty obvious what motivated her. She was thinking of the various names, the multiple roles that God played in the life she’d led up to that point. ‘King of kings’, ‘lamb’, ‘Lord of lords’, and ‘Great I Am’ are just the ones she called out in the first verse. The Lord’s position as Jehovah, and as overseer of every created being above, below, and in the universe beyond was also on Twila’s mind. Could He be any larger or more omnipotent than how she describes Him in the song’s four verses? How can one believer acclaim His being even more? Maybe this song is Twila’s answer, as she uses ‘we’ to express the multiplicity of those who call out to Him. The way to magnify my joy at praising Him is to draw, to invite, others to do the same.

I can thank Him for taking care of me personally, but to see His hand on so many others around me is also reason to exclaim, to pump my fists in jubilation. Twila’s experience as a worshipper, among, inside, and around others must have made it very easy for her to think others would want to worship, to glorify Him. And, not just as a one-time ‘thank you’, either. ‘How does one keep her eyes on someone like God?’, Twila may have quizzed herself in 1982. He has so many names, it just makes a lot of spiritual sense to use them all and remind myself and others just how vast His being is. He has lots of names, perhaps because there are so many of us who need Him in so many ways.

      

Check out the following links to read about the composer:

http://twilaparis.com/bio.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twila_Paris

http://www.cbn.com/cbnmusic/artists/paris_twila.aspx

See the book“Our God Reigns: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2000, for further background on the composer.

We Bow Down -- Twila Paris

Twila Paris was a 26-year old star, with a number one hit, her very first one. So one could imagine that she might have felt she’d arrived at the top. Others might have understood, since she had already written dozens of songs and produced four albums, if she had acted a little cocky. Her life was set, and all she needed was to keep moving upward, composing more memorable, inspiring songs. But, that wasn’t what she must have been thinking when she composed “We Bow Down” at the same time in 1984. What’s the foundation for a successful worship tune? Twila is as much an expert as you might find, since she’s been at this task as an adult for over 30 years professionally.

Twila’s understanding of good music development by 1984 had been inside her probably for many years, even from her childhood before she reached double-digits in years. By the age of 7 she was known as ‘Little Twila Paris’ on her first album, a collection of hymns she’d grown used to singing with her family during evangelism campaigns. No doubt about it, Paris received her musical genes from parents Oren and Rachel and the Arkansas roots that nourished and shaped her. Success and recognition at so young an age could have been a burden to others, yet in Twila’s case it must have given her the recipe for healthy development. “We Bow Down” embodies an attitude of prostration to the God she calls Lord and King in the song’s two verses. Little people, even one at 26-years old, can say powerful things, she realized. This was also an idea that was the theme of the album on which “We Bow Down” appears -- The Warrior Is a Child. Jesus had learned to humble himself, Twila must have realized, and became everyone’s Savior as a result. We don’t know what minute-to-minute circumstances evolved to guide Twila’s hands to write “We Bow Down”, but her words tell us of a life that was tilted toward Him personally. She begins each verse with a personal declaration of her devotion to Him, and then does what must have come naturally since her childhood. She invites everyone around her to join in the ‘we’ that say they bow to Him. Let’s all be His children together.

Twila’s in her mid-50s by now (in 2015), and still composing songs, although she’s taken more time out for her family. She and husband Jack are raising kids, teaching them what it means to bow and sacrifice, and to whom. It’s a posture from which Paris has probably never left, really. She probably still sings those songs from her ‘Little Twila’ days, and the one she wrote as a 26-year old too, as reminders of the way she relates to her Father God. It’s a way of staying grounded, letting Him be in control. Try bowing a bit each day, and see if a childlike posture doesn’t make your life go better.

Check out the following links to read about the composer:

http://twilaparis.com/bio.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twila_Paris

The Joy of the Lord -- Twila Paris

She was a 32-year woman, who reportedly was washing dishes. Does that naturally bring joy to most people? Apparently something was intertwined with this mundane activity one day in 1991, when Twila Paris pulled something from inside herself and said the “The Joy of the Lord” was present. This Arkansan (see state seal of Arkansas here) gives one a personal look at herself and the joy she has kept discovering, even just lately as described in a magazine article (see first link below) despite some personal challenges. In short, it sounds as though she found a place that has protected her…a sanctuary.  This word has been expressed in more than ways than one for her.

By the time 1991 rolled around, Twila Paris had been travelling extensively and producing Christian music for more than a decade, but what she said in “The Joy…” that year was something that had already been ongoing and would continue to play out for many more years. She grew up and still resides in Arkansas’ northwest portion, so many who know her might say home and family there are the sanctuary for Paris. It would be easy to imagine that, and see Twila decompressing one day after returning home to Arkansas from a concert tour. Just being at home, doing something that allows the mind and the body to relax in some activity’s routine, even if it’s something rather ordinary like washing dishes. She might also have been reading her bible, recalling the story of Nehemiah the governor and the priest Ezra (Nehemiah 8) as they reminded the Israelites of the Holy One’s words. They calmed the people’s grief, telling them they could become stronger through the Lord’s joy (v. 8). That must have spoken to Twila, too, centuries later. Whatever the reasons, Twila’s album that year was titled Sanctuary on which “The Joy of the Lord” appears. More recently, her husband Jack’s chronic fatigue has been a challenge for the both of them, but Twila says having the source of real joy has allowed them to endure.  Perhaps she’s re-read Nehemiah, remembering the people’s sorrow at separation, yet their perseverance through encouraging words of mentors. One cannot have too many of those, including close family, friends, and fellow-believers, as Twila and Jack have discovered (see article link below).

According to Twila Paris’ words, one might come up with the following arithmetic expressions:  Joy=Strength= Courage (verse 1); or how about this one?: Joy=Strength=Redemption (verse 2). Finally, Twila has said Joy=Strength=Trust (verse 3). Which one do I need to draw upon at this moment? It doesn’t mean I forfeit the others while I drink from one particular cup of encouragement. Their all linked together, and therefore all tied to Him. Think that could be why the cup overflows, as you might have heard someone say? Have you had anything to drink today?

Source for the story of the song: http://www.todayschristianmusic.com/artists/twila-paris/features/the-sanctuaries-of-twila-paris/

Brief biography of composer: http://www.twilaparis.com/bio.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twila_Paris

Link to album (Sanctuary) on which the song appears: http://www.twilaparis.com/albumsinfo.php?id=11