soul food

More years ago than I care to count, I first touched a piano. It must have been a truly inspiring moment, since I have absolutely no recollection of it whatsoever! Was I a baby, banging away from the vantage point of my mother's lap? A toddler, stretching to reach the keys with my pudgy fingers? Did I sit on a stool as as a four year old and pretend to be a child protegee?! I have no idea.

That first touch of the golden keys maybe wasn't so memorable, but it must have been at least a little inspiring since I was drawn back to touch those keys again and again. I started having lessons with Mr Briggs in Coonabarabran (yes, that's a place, not a fancy Australian brand of breakfast cereal!). Then it was Mrs Koster in Ararat and an eisteddfod or two where I played 'Istan the Bull' to polite applause, before exams in Newcastle under the tutelage of... um... I can't remember her name!?! I do however have vivid recollections of her German Shepard sitting beside the piano and farting his way through every lesson.

Ah, music soothes my soul - even scales and exercises! Crazily I like scales. It's similar to making patient's beds at work... my mind travels to far away places while my fingers and hands do the work. Very therapeutic.

At the time I don't think I appreciated the gift my parents gave me in all those piano lessons. I also doubt I realised the pain they must have endured as I fumbled my way through piece after piece! Only now when I haven't had a piano to play for years, except at church, do I recognise the value of the sacrifice they made.

Ah, I'm getting weepy. Thanks Mum and Dad! What a treasure you placed in my hands when you introduced me to that first piano!

Music is more than a pleasant background filler (though I partake of that too!). It lifts my spirit, delights my heart, heals my hurts, feeds my soul. Music works its magic in my heart, drawing forth tears of joy, eliciting shivers of ecstasy, satisfying my deepest longings for beauty. Not just a gift from my parents, it is a gift from God.

And now music is spilling over in my life in the most exciting way!
We bought a piano! (Read 'Frank bought me a piano'. Another incredible gift)

The delivery

(oops... forgot the camera until it was too late)

careful maneuvering down the driveway

Oh. Oh. Steps! Be careful!

Ooooo... just too exciting! Almost there!

Removing the piano trolley...

Installed and ready to go.
Let me at it!

Ah. The moment I've dreamed about!

Did you pick up the level of my excitement in the step by step photographic record?! I'm thinking the removalists got in the picture!

Now when you walk past my house you'll hear me banging away at the keys... and delight of delights, singing my heart out to God. Sure I hope to get back into some of the classical music I haven't played for years, but sitting at the piano the last couple of days has been like gulping down a huge glass of cold water just as I'm about to pass out from dehydration. Life saving.

Music deepens my relationship with God, and right when I've been feeling my most spiritually shrivelled I'm given the chance to play and sing to God. As I said, life saving. And marvellous. Even more marvellous is the way he graciously meets me and refreshes my heart as I worship.

Ah, the joy of life. The gifts I've been given. Thankyou God.