Life Lessons from the Forgotten Piano Fingers

When you are young and "wise" beyond your years, there are some things you think you know better than others. Often when someone older offers some advice you might take it as merely a suggestion. So you think you already know who you should or shouldn't date, what major/career you should pursue, how to spend your time, what sport to play, what friends to hang out with, and whether or not you should spend time learning to play a musical instrument. And these are just a few of the issues that can be significant in the lives of 12-18 year old teenagers.

When I was younger my mom really thought I should try to learn piano. She always said I had the fingers for it. At 13 and 14, I didn't have much interest in spending my afternoons "tickling the ivory," not to mention that it seems like teenagers are wired to try to do everything opposite of what their parents suggest. But now, years later, I regret not investing some time learning to play and appreciate the piano. I guess I didn't know everything after all.

There are plenty of times when we interact with God in similar ways. We are convinced that we know what is best for our lives. We decide what direction to go without first giving it over to God, and then ask him to bless our own pursuits. But we need to be reminded that just like we realize we didn't know as much as we thought we did when we were young, we also still have a lot to learn about trusting God and walking forward in faith in all things. As much as we hate to admit it, we don't have all the answers. In fact, life often invites us to wrestle with more questions, than it allows us to come up with satisfactory solutions.

I've recently decided to give learning the piano another try. I've got another chance to follow the advice of someone who may have had greater insight into my life than I did at the time. That's also the beauty of our relationship with God. He's always waiting for us to come to our senses and return to the one who knows what's best for our lives. After all, he did create my piano fingers!

Mike