A life in tune

Here's something you may not know about me... I used to play the violin. For about 4 years back a long long time ago. Like 25 years ago! It's something I wish I would have continued. (Note to all you kids out there whose parents make you practice an instrument--keep it up! It's something you will always have with you! and music is beautiful!) Anyway, I had a thought the other day and got a wild hair. I thought I should get a cheapie violin and try to play again! Thank goodness for ebay!

Well, in my mind I knew I couldn't just pick it up and play it again. I knew it would take a lot of practice. But one thing I didn't think about. Tuning the thing! When it came in the mail it came untuned of course. I bought a tuner and began to mess with it. Up..down..sharp..flat..wrong note..too high..too low.. UGHH! I had to go out a buy a tuner to help me get the pitch right. It has a needle that points if the note is too high or too low, and it has a big letter that flashes what the note is. Also..you have to understand how a violin works. It's got big pegs on the neck where you can adjust the strings. This is for changing the note drastically. But it also has small tuners down at the base for fine tuning. When you just need to tweak the string a little bit up or down.

Well I kept messing with each string. And just when I'd get to the last string ..I'd go back and listen to the first one..and it was out of tune! How'd that happen? I just fixed it! So I'd start all over again and tune each string. Then I noticed that the pegs were slipping. Every time I got the string tuned..the peg turned and it was out of whack again! So I had to buy some peg compound to give the pegs more grip so they wouldn't slip.

As I was in the middle of this very frustrating process..I thought.. hey..there is a spiritual lesson in here. A few actually..

• You can't tune your instrument without a tuner. My life is my instrument. The tuner is the Lord.
• Sometimes my life is so out of whack I can't tell what the tune is supposed to be. I need to tune with the pegs. Make some big changes. Tune things in my life up or down in a big way to make a noticeable sound to others.
• Sometimes the string sounds pretty good to others. But there's some fine tuning that needs to be done. My life may look good to others. It may sound ok. But it would sound better if I did a little fine tuning. Just tweaked stuff a bit.
• You can't not play for 25 years and pick it up and sound wonderful. You need practice. If I had been practicing all these years imagine the songs I could play now! My life needs to be in continual practice to Jesus. I can't take a break for a while and come back to Him later. My life would sound terrible. I need daily practice. Practice in reading His word. Practice in praying. Practice in serving others. Practice in good thoughts and actions. The more I practice the more my life will sound better.
• Just when I think I've gotten all tuned up..I need to start over and retune. Each time I pick up my instrument to play I need to check and see if it's in tune. My life will slip in and out. I'll never be perfect. But I need to constantly check the tuner (the Lord) and see if my life sounds good.

This new year I hope to learn to play my violin again. Maybe I'll start practicing Christmas songs now so I'll be able to play some at the end of the year!

But I want to work more on my relationship with the Lord. Lord, show me where I need to tune my life with the pegs. Put the peg compound on so I won't keep slipping out of tune. Lord, show me where my instrument needs to be fine tuned. Help me in my thoughts, speech, actions toward others. Help me be a beautiful instrument for you!