My teenage son, who plays the guitar, electric guitar and flute, brought home a trombone from school.
I used my best neutral voice to comment, “Somehow I think the trombone is not an apartment-friendly instrument.”
It did not take long to prove I was correct. I am supportive of my teen’s musical endeavors, but sanity is necessary for support. We did not have our neighbors’ support. Even if we had, I could not bear the volume of noise.
Was I a bad mom for forbidding blaring brass in a New York City apartment surrounded on all sides by others, or a wise mom who set appropriate limits?
Perhaps the answer was somewhere in between. Or perhaps it was the wrong question.
My son took to practicing trombone at school. Which is neither here nor there except to say that we will never know what lay down the path not taken. The alternate route might have been better…or worse. There could have been the musical equivalent of road rage, or there might have been someone a floor below who was a trombone aficionado.
We don’t know. And frankly it isn’t that important to know. God asks us to live this moment—here, today—and find a way to love Him in it and through it.
Personally, I think I would find it hard to hear the Word of the living God in the midst of loud, fractured and stuttering beginner brass. But I could be wrong.
What’s more, if I could not make the noise go away, I would have to find a way to praise the Lord in the midst of it. Unpleasant circumstances are never an excuse; we don’t get a pass on worship just because we are stressed or overwhelmed. God knows our situation. He knows it and asks for us to love Him in whatever situation we are in.
This is why the psalmist sings, “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1, ESV). Our circumstances are never as important as our relationship with God. Let us praise Him today, now, while we still have life and breath to do so.
Praise Him today. Praise Him in all situations. Whether you choose right or wrong for the things of this world, you can always choose what is right for the next.
