It is in that moment that I have the greatest chance of clicking over into the music – the truly beautiful music that is to be played in the way that the Eternal Composer wrote it…
When I was a little girl, my parents decided that it was important for me to learn to play the piano. As they had no musical education themselves, it took them a few years to find the right sort of teacher and then a few more years for us to settle into the routine of piano practice…
And so it was that I began to study music and learnt o play the piano. In order to keep track of my progress, my parents booked me (and my siblings) into piano exams. This meant that we were required to learn to play six classical pieces and then complete a series of technical activities to prove that we could master the technical requirements of the classical piano course as dictated by the Australian Music Examination Board.
These pieces could take us twelve months to master and that meant that we were practicing the same set of music over and over and over again for twelve months so that we could prepare for the examination.
Now – what was the purpose of piano exams? After all, it is hardly a life-skill. Nobody from my family ever became accomplished enough to become a concert pianist or even a terribly good performer. And we certainly have never earned a living by playing a musical instrument – nor would we want to…
And yet there was great purpose in those lessons and exams. You see, there is a reason why so few people actually play musical instruments well. And the reason is that it is hard work with little or no visible reward for a significant period of time… In other words, when I start learning a piece of music, it sounds terrible for a really long time. I cannot play it fluently and I cannot articulate it musically. It does not gel together and does not sound wonderful. It can take months and months of practice before even a few lines of music start to sound the way that the composer intended it.
And during all that practice, many people become discouraged and might be tempted to give up. In fact – often JUST BEFORE – the piece starts sounding beautiful, it all feels like too much effort and the temptation to give in becomes very great. But if the pianist pushes past this point, the rest of the piece and the music can be quite beautiful!
And I have been thinking about that today because it seems that is prayer. I pray and pray and pray for a thing for months or years – or even for the entirety of my entire life – and it remains just beyond reach. It is just a little too hard to implement and a little too hard to get. So often my prayers appear unanswered, and just as the pianist could use this as an opportunity to quite and stop, so too could the faithful use this as an opportunity to LOSE faith…
And yet – right there in that moment when things seem almost impossible – that is the moment when it is most important to continue to pray. Because it is in that moment that I have the greatest chance of clicking over into the music – the truly beautiful music that is to be played in the way that the Eternal Composer wrote it…
And there is such glory in that moment – I just need to persevere long enough to reach it… Just long enough…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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