How a piano is like the Body of Christ.

On the baby grand piano I use for teaching lessons, one of the high D keys has been sticking for the past few weeks.  Luckily, I thought, the key was very high and should not affect the majority of my younger students.

However, today, almost every single one of my students commented on how irritating it was that this one key was sticking. 

It made me think: out of 88 working keys, 87 isn't THAT bad, is it?  One bad key out of 88 is roughly 1.2% of all the keys.  And yet, how much just one sticking piano key can affect the quality of the music. 

Those 88 keys remind me of the Body of Christ.  We are meant to exist together as one piano, but many keys.  Each of us are called to a unique purpose and plan, but each plan is related to the others so that they can work together for God's glory. 

Those keys sit idle for hours, days, at a time - but each must be ready to be played upon by the Master at any moment.  Each key must be available for music to be played upon it. 

This little annoying sticking key reminded me of what happens when any of us refuses to be "the best version of ourself" (thank you Matthew Kelly).  Sometimes, whether through sin, self-condemnation, worry, envy, etc.  we do not allow ourselves to reflect God, to be available to God, to allow God to make music in us.  Even though we might think this problem is only a personal one, it affects everyone else, and it affects the overall music.

To be able to add to the beauty of God's work, we have only to lay ourselves open to His hand and be ready to be played upon at any time.

Waiting for the best wine

"On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,  and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
 
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside  and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” John 2:1-12

Sometimes I am at the end of all that I can do.  I have put in hours, days, months, to solve the problem.  I have let my thoughts circle around looking for the answer, only bringing more confusion.  I have prayed about it, taking the concern to God every time I think of it.  The level of frustration grows as my energy levels are depleted, all with no result. 

Which is why I was amazed the other day when I thought of this moment in the Gospels.  Mary simply states the case to Jesus: "they have no more wine." And she leaves it at that. 

I am struck at the contrast in her request from the way I usually pray.  I usually pray something like this (unconsciously), "Lord, I am out of answers, and because of that, I am now going to sit here trying to rack my brain for any other possible answers rather than accepting the silence, lack of control and waiting that would happen as a result of leaving the problem with You."

It is easy for me to get in the habit of worrying, analyzing or "trouble-shooting" when I really think I am praying. 

So as I read this acount, it becomes clear to me:

 

When we let go of the problem and truly leave it with God, we give Him room to work on it. 

What does Mary have that enables her to leave the problem with God?
-Trust: She trusts God because she knows Him. She has invited Him into her home and entire life.
-Humility: She accepts that the answers Jesus gives may differ from her own.
-Confidence: She believes that her plea will be heard taken care of in the best way.

When I read this passage, the other part became clear:  "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

When I am relying on my own abilities to solve a problem, the result is depletion.  My resources are emptied until I have no more.  I feel increasingly frustrated.  But when the problem is truly left with God (meaning for me, no further analyzing, worrying and 'head time,') there can be answers I would not have expected, new doors opened I could not have imagined, and fruits that come from the love of another. 

Sharing my burden with God means He shares His resources and creativity with me. 

Attitude Check: Praise the Lord!

I still remember at a high school youth rally, this corny phrase the leaders would yell at the crowd: "Attitude check!" to which we quickly learned the correct response was, "Praise the Lord!"  At the time, it was just one of those things we did.

But today, I remembered that little phrase and the answer.  My attitude has been awful lately.  Somehow, even though it is Easter and Spring is coming, and this is the time to be experiencing joy and peace and hope and excitement about the future, I felt overwhelmed all weekend with negative thoughts that distracted me from all the beautiful things going on around me. I had had a whole day alone on Good Friday, in which I had become very interested in facebook, and all the wonderful things going on in my friends' lives, which spurred on a sense that my life is not overwhelmingly full of wonderful things, and this somehow led me to question moving to a bigger city, and why everything has not magically converged into a wonderful, inspiring story of events.  Right now is a "middle of the story time," and the things I would like to see coming to fruition are not... yet. 

In times like this, thoughts can spiral, until nothing looks good anymore.  Luckily, I have grown to recognize when I am in a negative thought spiral, so I can now see the difference between the "inner weather" of my mind and the "outer weather" of actual circumstances.  But even still, it can be hard to shake negativity. 

But - at Easter dinner, one of my older cousins was wearing a beautiful bracelet.  It said "True, Honorable, Just, Pure, Lovely, Gracious" in very pretty lettering. 

This, I can see now, must have been the "still, small voice" of God, speaking to me.  I remembered a verse I've been thinking about a lot lately, which I really need:

"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things." Philippians 4:8

So today, I ditched my negative, inner narrative of my life, and started making a list of the things in life that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and gracious.  It was two pages by the time I finished, and I felt so much better!  It is leading me to a few conclusions:

*I hear over and over again how facebook tends to lead to negative, envious thinking.  I want to invest less time on facebook and more time in real life. 

*Sometimes I think negatively when my life is small - the smallness of thinking, usually just getting through the day instead of being conscious of the bigger picture.  When this happens, I need to think big - remember some of my dreams, or the things that bring joy, and pursue them.  One thing I am going to do is start playing music for residents at nursing homes again.  Just the thought of this brings joy. 

*I keep hearing that whatever we focus on tends to grow.  I do not want to focus on negative thoughts!