The Band Director's Lessons About Life

A cross between "Chicken Soup for the Soul", "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten", and "Conversations with God". If you liked any of those, you’ll love this one.

Do you want a happier, more joy-filled life? Are you in a spiritual rut but don’t have time to read? Are you wondering where to go next on your spiritual journey? Not sure how to look at your life with spiritual eyes? This book’s for you!

In "The Band Director’s Lessons About Life", author Donald Lee draws on his decades as both a band director and a religion teacher to create modern-day parables from the classroom.

People of any religious persuasion—or none—will be delighted and inspired by how these band-room vignettes shine a spiritual light on everyday experiences. The parables are short enough to read in the bathroom yet deep enough to ponder for days. Put it beside your bed and fill your mind with a 5-minute spiritual lesson before you fall asleep.

The Master Teacher is famous for his parables. But nowadays it’s hard for us to relate to searching for lost sheep in the hills or sowing wheat seeds by hand. This book has parables about kids in school. Every event has a spiritual dimension—tuning the flute section, a terrible performance, a broken clarinet, hallway bullying, cell phones, test anxiety, and even the ugly band uniforms. If you’ve ever been to school, you’ll recognize the characters, chuckle at their misadventures, and maybe even learn something about yourself. If you’ve been a kid, if you love music, this book’s for you.

The book is organized to reflect the typical performance cycle of a band program. It’s a metaphor for our cycle of spiritual growth in life. At the start of the school year, there’s lots of preparation: class lists, checking instruments, picking music, and setting goals for the various levels of bands. Then we get to practicing: learning the skills, new notes, and all the things we will need to master before our first concert. All too soon the performance comes. It’s a mixture of success and failure. Some things go well, some poorly. Afterward, we reflect on the performance and redirect our efforts to prepare better for the next. This is the cycle in band—preparation, practice, performance, followed by reflection and redirection.

It’s a metaphor for spiritual growth. Whether you’ve just accepted that we have a spirit, or have a PhD in Religion, or talk to angels every day–wherever you fit in—this book is for you.

“The characters might be your kids, or you as a kid. My wish for you is that you’ll be drawn into these stories and, through them, see your own spiritual journey in a new light. I hope you gain insight into your own spiritual growth—how you can live your life more successfully, happily, and bring peace to those around you. At the very least, I think ...