
All the boys play the piano.
Mr. Fantastic says learning music is good for them; good for their minds, good for their souls.
I agree. And hearing them play is good for me. I cannot forget how they are all uniquely made when they sit at the piano.
Boy 1 strikes the keys and conquers the songs. New songs are new mountains he must climb. He checks practice time off, memorizes notes and keys, achieves much and moves on to the next thing on his list.
Boy 3 agonizes over the discipline. He groans through the practice, but once he learns the song he proudly plays it. Then he gets creative. He changes octaves, presses new notes between old ones, plays it faster, plays it slower. Then he groans again and vows to quit when a new song is placed before him, and we begin the journey to creativity again.
When Boy 2 plays, it is my heart strings that he pulls with those black and white keys. How does he do that? How does he touch our souls with a simple song? There is more in his hands than notes, there is love and meaning, pain and joy, life pours forth from him as he plays.
Don’t we all play life like this, with our own unique hand, the moments resounding with the signature of who we are?
God’s music plays over us and we are meant to sing it back to Him.
“For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
-Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)
We don’t know all the chords yet and we can’t all read every note, but we sing nonetheless.
Some of us conquer His music valiantly, some of us fight against it until we learn to do something creative with it, and some of us play it gently and the precious few who truly hear it are deeply moved.
The music of life flows over us and if we will be disciplined enough to listen and practice, it will sing from our souls and the world will be made better with its tune.
“He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.”
-Psalm 40:3