keep playing...

it stands against the wall silent most days,

my companion of 25 years.

a little beat up,

very out of tune,

and carries a fine layer of tiny fingerprints all over its face.


i remember the first time i sat down on that bench,

i was 7.

i placed my fingers on those shiny black and whites and my life changed forever.


i'm not very good,

mediocre at best,

but always, when life has loomed large,

i've found a safe place lost in the notes that ring out.


they ran around me today, loud and chaotic;

the little ones

and my thoughts.


so i did what i always do when everyone is a little distracted,

i pulled down my hymnbook

and began to sing.

and the three of them never slowed down,

not once.

kept chasing each other in a game of tag...


but my fingers pulled each note out one by one

and soon i was lost in the Beauty of Him.


and yes, life looms large.

questions and decisions and all the what-if?'s


memories and grief get mixed in with the happy.


in my rush to fill my home with music, i become tempted to play any song in the key of C.

devoid of any sharps or flats, my fingers can find their own way through a song.


but there is no contrast in a song with no black keys...

nothing to draw out the ache of a melody.


there is beauty to be found in the dark,

even if it takes a little more time to find.


is that why He keeps drawing me back to that beautiful Name of His?

the One that stands out as Light in the dark?

everywhere i look,

whether in the dark of the night as we drive in the country looking for christmas lights to dazzle and awe,

in the dark of my memories, my longings for the days before the days without began,

He always brings my thoughts back to Himself

reminding me of those words long ago said,

when Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, 

"I am the Light of the world..."
john 8:12a

there are moments i wish for a life in C major,

one without those keys that are black...


but without them,

without those moments that draw my notice and force my attention,

i wouldn't have seen the way His Light can push through what seems utterly dark.


so i keep playing in the light of a tree heralding His Birth, keep trusting that He will always Light my way...