On the day I was born, my mom tells me that one of the first things my dad did was look at my hands. He had high hopes that I would grow up to play the piano, so he was checking to see how long my fingers were.
Lesson #1: Some men look at a girl's hands first before anything else.
When I was two, I smashed my fingers in a stroller. My dad freaked out, and my parents took me to the emergency room even though I'm sure money must've been tight back then. (Anything to preserve a future music career, I guess.)
Lesson #2: Fingers are really important. Take care of them.
Some of my earliest memories are of sitting with my dad on the piano bench, playing the high notes with my pointer fingers as he made his music. He let me play along to my heart's content as long as I didn't bang. (I thought I was really good.)
Lesson #3: Banging isn't good for pianos.
Lesson #4: Let your kids express their creativity even when it sounds terrible.
Once I was old enough for piano lessons, my frugal father decided to teach me himself. This new student/teacher arrangement lasted for approximately half a lesson. He asked me to clap a rhythm but I wouldn't cooperate, so I ended up in the time-out chair, and he ended up walking out of the lesson. (From that day on, he paid someone else to teach me piano lessons.)
Lesson #5: Don't try to give your own kids piano lessons. They will drive you crazy, and you will lose your temper. Period.
Lesson #3: Banging isn't good for pianos.
Lesson #4: Let your kids express their creativity even when it sounds terrible.
Once I was old enough for piano lessons, my frugal father decided to teach me himself. This new student/teacher arrangement lasted for approximately half a lesson. He asked me to clap a rhythm but I wouldn't cooperate, so I ended up in the time-out chair, and he ended up walking out of the lesson. (From that day on, he paid someone else to teach me piano lessons.)
Lesson #5: Don't try to give your own kids piano lessons. They will drive you crazy, and you will lose your temper. Period.
Nowadays I'm so thankful I learned how to play ... so thankful the Lord sees fit to use me in worship ministry. After my recent post about Fanny Crosby, I remembered a little devotional I wrote soon after I graduated from college. It was inspired by one of my most cherished F. Crosby hymns. I wrote about using our gifts in service to God and about memories of my Daddy's beautiful piano playing. If you know my family well, then you understand what I'm talking about ...
Sunday, December 1, 1996
I am blessed to have been reared in a home filled with beautiful music. As a child, I used to sit under my father's piano and listen to him make the sweetest music in the world. I still love to hear him play. I marvel at the way his fingers move so gracefully and effortlessly across the keyboard, producing the most glorious sounds on earth. Those sounds are precious to me. Yet even more precious are the messages behind those familiar old hymns I've so often heard him play.
Consecrate me now to they service Lord, by the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, and my will be lost in Thine.
-- "I Am Thine, O Lord", Fanny Crosby 1820-1915
Each of us has been blessed with our own unique gifts and talents, and God expects us to use and cultivate them in service to Him. How sweet it is to know that when we use these gifts to serve Him to our fullest potential, He draws us nearer to Him, to the cross, and to His "precious, bleeding side".
I cringe a little when I read stuff I wrote way-back-when because I see countless ways I could've made my stories more compelling. Yet reading this reminds me of just how richly the Lord blessed me when He allowed me to be born into a music-filled home--but even more than that, how blessed I am to have grown up watching my parents use their gifts to serve the Lord. I thank God for their example.
Lesson #6: Your kids are watching you closely, so be sure the example you set won't come back to bite you.
Today my home continues to be filled with music. Am I a professional musician? Hardly. But I'm still playing ... and my daughter sings like an angel and plays guitar ... and my son is the coolest drummer I know ... and the twins are both starting band this year (okay, so the music in our house might be less than beautiful for awhile, but we'll get through it).
Lesson #7: We serve a God who loves to bless us with the things we enjoy most.
One of my most fervent prayers is that my four kids will remain faithful in using their gifts to serve the Lord all the days of their lives. I could burst with happiness at the prospect ... and truly, I can think of no greater legacy to leave behind.
Lesson #6: Your kids are watching you closely, so be sure the example you set won't come back to bite you.
Today my home continues to be filled with music. Am I a professional musician? Hardly. But I'm still playing ... and my daughter sings like an angel and plays guitar ... and my son is the coolest drummer I know ... and the twins are both starting band this year (okay, so the music in our house might be less than beautiful for awhile, but we'll get through it).
Lesson #7: We serve a God who loves to bless us with the things we enjoy most.
One of my most fervent prayers is that my four kids will remain faithful in using their gifts to serve the Lord all the days of their lives. I could burst with happiness at the prospect ... and truly, I can think of no greater legacy to leave behind.
May I be just the example they need. Amen.
2 comments:
Worship, oh the meaning it has in my life. I, being a daddy's girl, grew up with my dad playing bass in my home church (15 years later, he still does) I always longed for the ability to play music as he does. Worship is when I let all my walls down and can hear His voice so clearly. I, unfortunately, didn't inherit that gift.
In the recent past, I have found a new sort of worship. Writing has become my worship. In my writing, I find a way to break through those walls instead of temporarily have them down. Brick by brick, through writing, my walls are diminishing.
Very cool. Actually, despite the fact that I've played in churches for over twenty years, I am just now learning how to TRULY worship. I still have walls up ... inhibitions I pray come tumbling down as I pursue a true heart of worship. Writing as worship ... I've never looked at it that way, but I suppose I should. So cool that you are a fellow daddy's girl and also came from a musical home! Oh, and that we share the same name, and that it means "beloved"!! :)
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