| “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” |
| —Psalm 126:5 |
Before television came to our house, my sister and I entertained ourselves by the hour at an old player piano. This piano had been purchased by my grandfather in 1934 and it came with 85 player rolls for $35.00.
The player piano rolls contained songs from Chopin Polonaises, to Joplin Ragtime, to Gospel hymns, to Sousa marches. My sister would pump the pedals while I “danced” and I would pump while she “danced.”
The rolls were cleverly created by machines that would stamp the holes and slits in just such a way as to play the correct notes in the right rhythm. What an ingenious idea to provide for “live” music in every home.
As I think about the way in which God wants our lives to play forth songs for His glory, I think of the confusing array of cuts and holes that, He allows our lives to experience. The stamping and punching, in a pattern that only He can read, comes from His wise and overarching wisdom and love.
God wants to bring out the music in us! He punches and slices in just the right places and in just the right time to complete in us the song He is writing. Not one extra hole ruins the sound. Not one slice comes at the wrong time.
God has perfectly engineered the pains, losses, and disappointments to come together so that they make something beautiful. Praise God! He knows just the number of gashes we need to make the music come through to His glory.
The apostle Paul told the Christians at Philippi, in Philippians 1:6, that he wrote them with joy:
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Though the painful process continues in us, God will achieve the purpose for which He has made and called us—to cause the music of our lives to praise Him!
