Have to? Not! by Susan L.

  Yesterday evening granted the opportunity to sit down and have a quiet heart to heart with my Lord. Some of it was about the music and trying to write worship lyrics and melodies. Those attempts have taken some of the joy out of playing the piano and my other love, creative writing. I suppose part of my logic was that if the Lord has placed these gifts in me, I felt they must be utilized to His glory. Talk about pressure!
  Here's the thing: they already are.
  Maybe playing the piano isn't a grand performance in front of a crowd (whew!). Maybe it's only being heard by my neighbours if the window is open. (I wonder if they get tired of me playing the same bit over and over until the next few notes fall into place or until I get them written down accurately.) Maybe it's part of building confidence in my abilities as a piano player. Maybe all this doesn't matter.
  Maybe it is about simply being in and of the music where the whole hurtful, ugly world vanishes for a few breathless, wonderful, magical moments. Maybe this is yet another form of prayer.
  What has emerged so far is a celebration of the natural world God created. I've always felt a close connection to nature. The visual artist in me has spent hours simply looking, absorbing what I see until it's set in my mind forever. The natural flow is that the melodies paint pictures in an attempt to capture motion and light and shadows with sound.
  There's a short sound track for a flock of starlings as they gather for their annual, fall migration. Most of my pieces are short but that's okay. They "paint" a complete picture. There's been one for a storm, one for the sunrise, one simply for beauty's sake and other fragments that may end up being elaborated on or simply tossed aside. The current work in progress aims to illustrate the ripples on a sun lit pond as it is caressed by the wind. For the most part, the end results have left me happy even if what is written sometimes has me tripping over my own fingers. (I really should practice scales for a while!)
  The rules have been tossed aside when it comes to following the music in this free form of composition. It's freeing. It brings joy, a joy that is almost painful, to create something built upon a single note or series of notes that catch my interest. In that moment, I know that within me lay a far greater Composer than I could ever be on my own. For that I am eternally grateful.
  "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide in you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him or knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." Jn 14:16-17