Our daughter Sarah sits next to Mr. Michael Olson each week as his student learning to play the piano. As she was preparing for her lesson last week, I sat down next to her and let myself reminisce about when I was her age and taking piano lessons. My fingers fit the first, third, and fifth position like an old glove and I played her the song I had once had to memorize for my fifth-grade recital and festival competition. She was impressed. Not with my technique. That needed some fine-tuning, but what impressed Sarah was my ability to remember something I had learned (in her words) “so very long ago!”
I thought about that exchange between her and me for much of last week. I played a song I hadn’t played in years because for a year in fifth grade, I allowed that song to be written on my heart. The syncopation of the notes had been drilled deep inside of me and its rhythm carried far into the future. The hours of practicing scales and doing music theory worksheets, a very long time ago, gave me the opportunity to share a moment of joy with Sarah where I realized that the composition of our life of faith is just like that.
God writes this beautiful symphony on our hearts. We don’t always get the technique right. We often stumble over sharps and flats, but when we have spent time in God’s word, practiced daily discipleship, lifted our hands in worship and praise over and over again, the song of God’s love for us is always there. It doesn’t go away. Even if we do, the song that God writes on our hearts is impressed upon us forever. Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve sat next to Jesus; be encouraged. He remembers you. He knows you by name. You are not forgotten. The song that is in you will come back to you one note at a time. You’ve memorized this: Jesus loves you this I know, for the bible tells me so! Let the rhythm of God’s amazing grace move you towards the music of Easter.
In Peace,
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