When life gets stressful, I play the piano. I’m not particularly good at it, since the five years of lessons I had as a youngster resulted, due to my lack of diligence, in only about three solid years of instruction. Then there was a 30-year gap in playing before I had access to a piano again.
Still, I find it soothing to work through a patch of Mozart, or to concentrate on getting the fingering right in a piece by Bach. It’s the single-mindedness, the diligence, as much as the music itself that is satisfying. Whatever else is going on fades to the background as I strive to make melody and harmony (eventually) merge.
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They say music is a gift, and I believe that’s true. Like most God-given gifts, there’s a certain amount of work involved on our end. We’re given the gift of life, and we still have to feed ourselves.
We’re given talents, and we have to use them instead of burying them in the ground. We’re given the gift of prayer, but it’s up to us to open our lips to proclaim our praise. Most importantly, we’re given the gift of faith, and if living a life of faith doesn’t entail effort I don’t know what does.
Gifts are freely given, but to use them involves a labor of love. Just something to think about as you hunker down to live that beautiful, God-given life of yours.
