Rusty

I LOVE pianos! I love the way they look, the way they sound, the way they feel! Most of my life (until I had kids) it was nearly impossible for me to walk into a room with a piano and not sit down to play it. I was not masterful, but I enjoyed EVERY MOMENT I spent playing... unless the piano was badly out of tune! ;) But I've not had a piano in my house for about seven years. There just wasn't room to fit all the people in our little house AND keep the piano! However, now that we have a bigger house, we have a piano again! And I'M SO HAPPY!!!

But I'm also kind of sad. Even though I was not masterful, I had mastered many fairly difficult pieces of music. As I sat down to show my Crew how I could play last week, I found that my fingers were disinclined to move as I had expected. Rather than dancing across the keys, they felt stiff and unwieldy. And music that used to flow smoothly from my eyes through my fingers and back to my ears, now sounded wooden and disjointed. =( I was reminded that "If you don't USE it, you LOSE it." And I was certainly LOSING it! But this doesn't just apply to tactile skills. It also applies to spiritual things. If I am not immersing myself in the Word, I begin to lose my taste for the things of God. Fortunately, a Bible doesn't require NEARLY the amount of space that a piano does. ;) It only requires time. And in eternity, we will never regret a moment that we spent getting to know our God!

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments. Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies. Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.
Psalms 119:1-24