Music lesson…

I don’t remember a time without music growing up. We children were surrounded by songs from birth, lullabies and worship, and I can still hear the thrum of my father’s guitar and the reedy voice of my mother’s piano accordion. Their duets are woven into the soundtrack of our lives, the melodies still echoing today. Now as I look back, I see that most of the songs were very personal in nature, tender towards Christ and filled with the desire for holiness, the longing for His return.  

We all sing. My sister and I sang our first duet when she was 4 and I was 5, and I still remember the song 😊. I vividly recall how my dad taught us to harmonize, how he stressed the importance of listening and blending. These lessons informed not only the way I taught the choirs I have conducted in my life, but they also became my foundation for learning to listen to others, knowing that harmony is basically hard work but the end result is a beautiful, God-glorifying blend of hearts and minds. While at bible school, Pete and I and my brother Oliver formed a Gospel trio called Rufaro and the childhood training now had to be applied to 3 strong-minded adults, teaching us so much about ourselves in the process. These lessons too were part of God’s preparation for our future ministry with Christ for all Nations.

I love the way Gpd does not waste our experiences! When we give room to the Holy Spirit’s work in us, he builds his habitation, skillfully chiseling and shaping each incident into a usable stone for building his throne room in us.  In his capable hands no experience is bad, no lesson lost. In fact, Paul said, ‘We know that God causes everything to work together] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.’ I admit that sometimes I have found it difficult to accept this, especially when my heart hurts and my mind screams, but the Father is in the business of redeeming everything that has made us who we are. I don’t know how he does it, but he does!

My brother Oliver wrote this beautiful song that keeps going round and round on the turntable of my mind:

Stand aside, let God take a look

Make place for him so he can do his work

Stand aside, others might have failed you

But the Master of it all is here

Stand aside, stand aside

Though the pieces of your life lay scattered all around

He has the plan, he’ll put them back again

Though it all may seem in vain,

You say you will never be the same

There’s better way than has been lost

He’s the one that you can trust

Stand aside…

I can only repeat – Stand aside and let God do what he does so well!

‍