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In several of the piano lessons I taught this past week, time was spent with the student to help them focus in on the trouble spots.  To do this, the piece must be dissected into smaller sections, sometimes even to just a progression of two notes, so that the problem can be identified and corrected.  Sometimes it is a wrong rhythm or note.  Sometimes it is a fingering problem.  Sometimes it is a moving of the hand to the correct placement.  Sometimes it is a matter of the student “seeing” what is actually written rather than relying on their guess.

The key is the breaking up of the piece into sections, then the trouble passages, and then dissecting those passages into even smaller elements.  When this is done, then worked out slowly, success will occur!  Then, the passage can be put back together and eventually the entire section will flow smoothly.  And, then, section-by-section, the entire song will be mastered.  This kind of practice will require patience, however, much can be accomplished in a few minutes.

The trouble spots in the music have to be taken apart, analyzed in minute detail, corrected and worked out, then put back together.  If a piece can be sight read well the first time around, then this kind of practice is not really needed as the music can already be played.  But, for those problem places, well, that is where diligence is very beneficial.

I wonder if that is how God has to work in my life and heart at times.  The problem places and trouble spots will hinder the flow of the “music of my life” if they are not worked out.  So, maybe, when it is time for me to grow in a spiritual area, God knows the only way for that to happen is for some things to be taken apart, worked out, and then put back together.  He is very patient.

He sets the tempo of His life lived through me.  Sometimes the tempo is slower and sometimes it is faster.  When the trouble spots are worked out, then it all stays in pace with whatever tempo God sets.  I am thankful He is a patient and compassionate Father!

Philippians 2:13  “For it is God who works in you, inspiring both the will and the deed, for his own chosen purpose.”  (Revised English Bible)

These past few weeks I have been involved in a major de-clutter project.  Much has been accomplished, and in weeks ahead my plan is to continue with the tackling of piles, stacks of papers, possessions, and “stuff” to sort, discard, give away, or keep.  This kind of project can become quite a huge endeavor!

A couple of years ago I was not ready to let go of some of these things.  What has made the difference?  I am not really sure.  One explanation may be that being at this age and stage in life, my current view of the present and past gives me changed perspectives.  Also, maybe I have come to grips with some inner issues and learned some lessons.  So, now, I can let go because I am standing on firmer spiritual and emotional ground.

It seems a person must go through these shifts every now and then in the course of life.  It is interesting how in each decade we value different things and often, what was once important has moved to another slot on the priority list.  Our journey on this earth passes quickly.  As James 4:14 says, “For what is your life?  It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”  A focus on eternity is a true and trustworthy filter that can be very helpful when sorting through material possessions and inner matters.

Taking time to reflect can also be effective and beneficial.  It enables a person to make order in inner and outer areas, put things in place, establish balance, stand with firmly planted feet, and then move forward to accomplish the good works that God has planned.  (Ephesians 2:10)  We look backward so that we are free to make the turn to face forward and press on!

Philippians 3: 13-14 “…this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

A couple of years ago, I stopped in at the Bible College where I use to teach.  In walking around and remembering, I headed towards the double doors that led to the area that had been the music department and where my office had been.  That area was always sort of dark, a hallway lined with practice rooms, and at the end was my office.  When I’d been at the college a few years before, a new building had been built for the music dept., and the old area was full of storage and not really used for anything.

As I began to pull the door open, I had every thought that I was entering the “dungeon” as I sometimes jokingly would refer to it.  What a surprise I had!!  I opened the door, and the dungeon was gone, and instead there was a very large beautiful room with couches!  I actually closed the door to be sure I had entered the right place.  Yes, it was the same double doors!  This time, I pulled the door open, stepped in, and had the most delightful experience of surprise.  That whole area had been gutted and remodeled to be a student center.  I did not know it!  I had to walk around and let it all sink in.  Yes, there were the windows that use to be in my office, but nothing else was the same.  It was truly an awesome experience.  Instead of entering the “dungeon”, I entered a beautiful transformed place.

My dad had recently passed away, and I compared this experience to what it must be like for someone “crossing over” from death to “the other side”!  Everlasting life in Christ!  From this side, it feels like opening the door to a sad dark place.  But, for the one who enters through that door, what a wonderful surprise they are in for!  We cannot even imagine.

I remembered this story a few days ago, and I had to smile because it still has so much meaning for me.  And, now, here on this earth, I walk up to a door (whether actual or a door in life opportunity) and think I’m probably entering a “dungeon” experience, and often, to my surprise, find it is a beautiful wonderful place that the Lord is bringing me to!

“Be strong and take courage (take heart), all you who put your hope in the LORD!”  Ps. 31:24

During the sense of magic filled busy days of the season leading up to Christmas, a person can feel pulled apart and swamped!  We enjoy all the delightful things that go along with this season, and yet there is something in us that longs for a chance to be still and meditate upon “the first Christmas” and what Christ means to us!  He is our Saviour!  Immanuel – God with us!  How do we find our way through the maze of these days in this short month, fulfill all the things that need to be done and that we want to do, and yet be still and spend time with the Lord?

My pastor, Dr. Mike McKinney, has a suggestion.  Separate the two!  Enjoy the festivity of the Winter Holiday Christmas.  And enjoy the Advent – the coming of the Lord.  Then, on Dec. 25, begin the twelve days of Christmas and take time in your life to meditate on your relationship with Christ and what He means to you.  Reclaim Christmas!

I have found this to be a solution.  Recently, I’ve been in several discussions with people who struggle with all this and often lose the joy that they long to experience.  I’ve shared the ideas of this solution and the response usually is “I like that.  I’m going to try that”.   So, if the days have passed by this December, and you are seeking for your Christmas joy, carry on the meditation of Christmas into the days after Dec. 25 and take that time with the Lord.

If you would like to read more about Dr. McKinney’s thoughts, go to leawoodbaptist.com, click on Publications, and then on Fixing Christmas (located in the box).  This is a booklet he wrote and will give more information and suggestions.

Jesus, the Light of the World came to us.  I am so grateful that He did!  May we be vessels of His light all through the year!

P.S.  After I posted this, I e-mailed Pastor McKinney and then he sent me the following and I thought I would also share this:

“For me WINTER CHRISTMAS is a delightful time of fantasy and fun with Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, Elves, and the winter wonderland with all the fun and delightful songs and music about jiggling bells, and white Christmases, etc.  It starts usually in October and finishes on December 25.  It is a lot of fun for children especially.  It is truly a winter festival and has nothing to do with reflections upon the birth of Jesus.  It should be celebrated for what it truly is, a winter festival.

For me JESUS CHRISTMAS begins with Advent as I prepare spiritually for commemorating the birth of our Lord Jesus, God’s great gift to the world.  Then on Christmas Eve I celebrate in worship with Scriptural reflections and Christian carols.  With the joy of Jesus Christmas in my heart I move on from December 25^th into the New Year (the 12 days of Christmas) with prayers and thoughts about another year’s journey in life with my Lord Jesus.  I truly believe separating the two is helpful, especially for children.  I do not want to take fantasy away from children, in fact we really can’t.  If we try, the children will simply retreat to the fantasies that thrive in their creative minds.  When children mature they begin to shift from fantasy to imagination and creative dreams that then become connected to reality.  If they have been raised with the separation of the two Christmas holidays, they can think of the Winter Holiday in the same way they did of fairy tales.  Children when they mature can come to realize that Jesus Christmas is not fantasy, but indeed a reality of the truth – God’s truth.” -Dr. Mike McKinney

In recent days, a quote on a little plaque I have has come to mind several times.  It is:

“I expect to pass through this world but once.  Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to my fellow creatures, let me not defer nor neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.”

I have been reminded that someone or some situation, which you think will be in your life for a long time, can suddenly not be there.  A person may not have another chance for an opportunity, saying a kind word of encouragement, settling an unresolved issue, or doing what is right in the current moment.

I had an elementary piano student who delighted in playing “Popeye, the Sailor Man” as a duet with me.  His family was going to be moving and I had wanted to give him the chance to play it one more time.  In what turned out to be his last lesson, (I actually thought we would have another lesson before they left town), it ran through my mind that I should play the duet with him, but I let it go to save it for his last lesson.  However, that last lesson never happened and we never were able to play the duet again.  I have felt a bit of sadness about that situation- for my student and for myself- but, the opportunity had passed by and there was no going back in time.

I need the help of the Lord to be alert and sensitive to the present moment and to the good things that can be done and experienced in the now, because I will not pass this way again.

“For in Him (the Lord) we live, and move, and have our being…”  Acts 17:24

I love the week of Thanksgiving.  It is a chance to slow down, reflect, rest, settle in for the last days of autumn as they lead into the winter, to remember the many blessings that have been given, and to be reminded of God’s wonderful awesome love for us!

I read in Daniel 6:10, that three times a day, Daniel kneeled and prayed, and gave thanks to God!  Daniel had “Thanksgiving” in his heart and expressed it to the Lord in a committed way three times a day.

A person who has received the gift of salvation of Jesus can actually have Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving every day of the year!  We focus on what these holidays are about when they are on the calendar, but they can be celebrated in our hearts and lives each day!

I wonder how my life would change if I would make a definite effort to “give thanks” to the Lord three times a day as Daniel did…

Last week a new addition came to be a part of my household – a little kitten!  I am calling her Katy.  She and my other cat, Lulu, have become acquainted and we are all getting adjusted.  I had another cat, Winnie, who became ill last year and she is gone.  It has taken me a year to be ready for another pet.  Last year I wrote the following paragraphs about Winnie and what I had learned through her about salvation.  It seemed fitting to share that in this blog:

“My cat, Winnie!  A Picture of Salvation!”  (10-22-10)

Winnie was a beautiful gray cat with pretty markings in her coat, a cute button nose, and awesome eyes.  She was a little lady, and acted like a little princess.  I found her hiding out in my shed in the late fall of 1997.  The shed had a hole in the back, and she was making that her home.  Other cats would run when I’d come out, but Winnie would come and seek me out, and then rub against my leg.  I started to realize that she was hungry and gave her some dog food, and she ate it!  Sometimes I’d hear the neighbor cats and see her run for her life to that shed.  Turns out she had no front claws.  I had never had a cat and am really more of a person who leans towards dogs.  But, on Christmas Eve day of that year, it turned very cold and started to snow.  I was really worried about this cat.  I called my friend Carol, who had a cat at the time, and asked her what I needed to do.  “Get a liter box, liter, and cat food and that’s about it” she said.  So I did.  When I came home, I told my dog, Mindy, life would never be the same for us again, went outside, picked Winnie up, and brought her into my house where she lived for the past 13 years.

This became a beautiful picture of salvation for me.  Winnie did nothing to earn being brought into my house and care.  I “saved” her from a fate of starving and being destroyed.  However, she did have to be receptive to me and receive a new life.  It was all a gift for her, and I did the picking her up, bringing her in, then taking care of her.

We are in need of a Savior, and Jesus has prepared the wonderful gift of salvation for us.  We do have to come to Him, and receive Him.  He makes us aware of our sin and need for cleansing by His blood and we are the recipients of His cleansing and the gift of eternal life.  We receive so much when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior!  He gives us Himself, the Holy Spirit, a Home in Him, takes care of us, leads us, comforts us, loves us with unconditional love, and we can rest in Him and know we are safe in His arms.  The treasures we have in Christ are beyond measure and understanding.

My cat, Winnie, always was a reminder to me of my salvation in Jesus Christ.  I’m so thankful that God, my Father, let her be my pet for 13 years!!

A couple of months ago I lost two hubcaps.  A car can look old and dowdy without those hubcaps!  I finally had a new set put on the tires, and what a difference it made!  My car is suddenly transformed!  It is sort of like putting jewelry on – it “dresses” us up a bit.  Ornamental things can make us and things look better.

In thinking of this, it triggered the memory of the verse in I Peter 3:4.  The passage is talking about women and what true beauty is.  As it turns out, according to God, true beauty has to do with your inner person more so than with your outward appearance.  “Whose adorning…let it be the hidden man of the heart…even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”  I Peter 3:3-4 (KJV)

The ornament that is of great value to God is a gentle and quiet spirit.  This is actually precious to Him.  Meekness is not weakness, but rather a constant gentleness combined with humility that is seen in our disposition in all the various circumstances of life.  A quiet spirit is a settled and contented acceptance of what God is doing in your life along with courage to live each day for Him to the best of your ability.  These things are not the easiest to cultivate and the process can take a while.  But, according to God, developing the beauty that comes from within is the more valuable adorning.  Letting Him transform our inner person is the more important endeavor.  This will affect every other area of our lives.  God can help us to have a new look, like my car- inwardly and outwardly.

How?  Well, Jesus says we can learn from Him – “Come unto me…learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls…”  Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV)  We develop the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit by coming to Jesus and learning from Him.

As I gather my thoughts today, three things keep surfacing…

The first:  In a conversation with a friend last evening about the struggle of staying on track with eating correctly physically and also the struggle with daily not letting the devotional quiet time alone with God be pushed aside by busy schedules, we realized that the first struggle is with taking in too much physical food, and the other struggle is with not taking in enough spiritual food.  Interesting!  We have to set our minds to getting both on track and keep these disciplines in place.

The second:  The beautiful autumn falling leaves are a reminder of our need to “let go”, shed, and relinquish our plans and agendas, hurts and disappointments, the past and the fear of the future, or whatever the Lord is asking us to let go of.  Letting go, of the good and the bad, is part of the cycle of life.  It opens the way for the new to come into our lives at the proper time.  For the branch to bear fruit in due time, the leaves of this year must fall to make room for the leaves of next year.  Philippians 3:13-14 says “…this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.

The third:  During the Sun. am rehearsal, my music director mentioned how beautiful the half bare trees were as the sun glistened through them.  She had realized that any stage in our life can be beautiful if the light of God is shining upon it.  Then, the pastor made the statement,  “It’s all about the light”!  And, he is right.  Many things, which in themselves could actually be ordinary and even drab, are transformed to untold beauty when light shines on or through them.  This is true of us as vessels of God.  God is light.  (I John 1:5)  Jesus is the Light of the world.  (John 1:9)  The Lord is my Light!  (Psalm 27:1)  The moon has no light of its own.  Yet, it shines and at times has a stunning glow.  It can only shine like that because it reflects the light of the sun.  Jesus, shine on me and through me!  Let Your light shine through me!

I love the line in the old spiritual-  “…you can take all this world, but Give me Jesus”!

This past Sunday evening, I played a thirty minute piano concert of my own original hymn arrangements at the Bible Baptist Church in Ottawa, Ks.  It was a great victory because six months ago I could not lift my right arm at all.  Severe tendonitis, along with all the other “itis” problems, had set in my right upper arm, and I had no strength or ability to move it.  There also was much pain.  My arm was locked up.  My hand was alright, but my arm could not get my hand to the piano or have ability to move up or down, left or right, or turn under for scale passages.

At that time, I wondered if music ministry, through playing the piano as I have been able to do, had come to an end.  To my surprise, I found that God had brought me a long way in my 56 years of life and in the 47 years of belonging to Him (I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 9 years old).  There was a great peace that let me know it would be all right if my piano playing days were finished.  I realized that my identity is not in my talent or ability.  Rather, it truly is in Christ!

“For me to live is Christ…!”  (Philippians 1:21)

“…Christ, who is our life…” (Colossians 3:4)

Having that understanding was worth going through the trial of the tendonitis.  I learned some things about myself and about my relationship with Christ.

Well, my arm healed and in time, I was back to the piano.  I did have a sense that the Lord was letting me know He was not finished with the piano playing and ministry.  My arm became stronger and I felt comfortable to schedule this concert for last Sunday.  As I would practice for it, it was thrilling to work up to having the agility, freedom, strength, and control in my arm and hand and also to work up to the thirty minute endurance requirement and not at all feel tired.

The victory was when I was able to play and share the music, relax, and enjoy the concert myself.  My arm was in great shape.  All the glory belongs to Jesus!  Thank you, Lord for Your healing touch, and for the lessons I have learned through this experience!