Today, I am getting my piano tuned!!! YEAH!!!! It should have been done already three months ago, but it's one of those things in life that you don't realize it isn't quite right, until it is really quite wrong!! Through the summer when the kids and I would play on it, it really didn't sound that bad. However, listening to 34 students playing on it, well, let's just say, my ears are ringing a little due to the bad vibrations. And don't get me wrong. It's not their faults! Okay, well usually it's not! ;-)
As I was thinking about getting my piano tuned, I realized how I was rationalizing not doing it. It's not cheap to get it done. To the students, it really doesn't make a difference. To my life in general, it doesn't even make a difference whether the notes are all exactly in tune or not. But when I listen, really take the time to sit and listen to the sounds those strings are making, I can so easily hear where there is discord. Certain notes are worse than others. But the strings are definitely out of tune. And admittedly, the piano is old. Almost 25 years old. But it's not the age that makes it sounds bad. It's the lack of attention I've been giving it.
So today that is over. Today my piano will ring out with perfect sounds. My piano technician is a miracle worker. (It truly amazes me how he can twist and turn those pins and make the strings sound all the same!) Sometimes, he really has to fight with the tuning pins to get them to move. Other times they glide with ease. Some keys have three strings that need to all be tuned to the same pitch. Others have one big string, but are difficult to hear. Amazing what he does to make each tone sound perfect.
It is so cool how our spiritual walk is the same.
We can live our lives, day after day, and not realize how out of tune we are. We go about our daily routines, and not even notice that we have let our walk with God slide. Or perhaps we hear it, but don't bother to do anything about it, in the hopes that it will get better. We glide along each day, okay with how our relationship is with God. But sometimes, it takes someone else to notice how badly out of tune we are. Sometimes it takes a good long look into the mirror to examine where we've gotten out of tune.
Not everyone might see that our spiritual walk is out of tune. On the outside, we are shiny and black. One might look at us and think "Wow. Now she is a polished Christian. Just look at what she is doing." But when the keys get struck. When the chords are played. When the piano is played, and not just looked at, the evidence is there. We are not in tune at all.
And what does it take to get us back in tune? Back in a right walk with our Saviour? Well, truthfully, sometimes it all depends on how badly out of tune we are. Sometimes those tuning pins really need to be tugged on. They have to be turned an awful lot in order to get us back in tune where we should be. Sometimes, it's just a slight tweak. Sometimes our own spiritual tuning pegs don't even want to be turned. We fight against the changes that we need to make in our life. And so the song our life sings is sadly out of tune.
However, when we let the Master Tuner take charge and make the necessary adjustments, when He plays the music, it sounds heavenly. It's the Hallelujah chorus. Sometimes it might just a be a little turn, sometimes a complete round, but if we allow God to change us - to make those adjustments, we begin to realize that the music that is coming from our lives is something that God is pleased with. In fact, it is God Himself who is streaming from our lives. The music that is coming from within us, is the Holy Spirit flowing out of us. BUT, we need to be able to realize that we have to be tuned. We need to take the steps to allow the Master Tuner to do His job.
And, the tuning process, like with my piano, is not just a once in a couple year process. It is a regular maintenance. Something that has to happen regularly in order to keep those songs of our lives completely in tune. If we neglect it, we get sorely out of tune. But if we allow God to be the master tuner. . . . If we allow Him to make those necessary adjustments, He WILL be honored by the music our lives are producing. I can't guarantee it will be an easy process. It might even cost you something. But the end results will be more beautiful than you can imagine.
The music you will be playing will bring honor and glory to your master Tuner!!
