Back in God's Classroom

Today I got taught a lesson you'd think I'd know by now--God must want to just hit himself on the head sometimes and say, "Will she never learn!!" The third Sunday of each month, I go to the local nursing home to play the piano for our little "church service." I usually play 3 or 4 songs and somebody gives a mini sermon to the 25-30 people who come into the large dining room with us. But, this Thursday, the woman in charge called and gave me a list of 10 songs to play. So, I was grumpy about that because that's a lot of songs to learn in 2 days (even if I did already know how to sing them), and 2 of them had 4 flats! For me, playing the piano is not a gift;it's just something I can do. It doesn't come naturally to me and never will. And remember, I'm in the middle of making a 28" long, 12" high whale--sticky paper machee and piano keys don't mix. I was also grumpy because my wrist has been giving serious problems for a month, going numb all the time and hurting a lot, so I've been wearing a wrist brace for a week.

By Friday, I thought about just not going this month, but I knew that wouldn't fly because a commitment is a commitment. This morning, I woke up today with my hand hurting again because of having to practice yesterday without the brace on. Needless to say, I needed a good attitude adjustment before leaving my house this morning. I could think of so many reasons I didn't want to go--my kids and husband were having a nice breakfast with some family friends at Oma's & I wanted to be there; my hand hurt; I wanted to sleep in an extra half hour instead of primping. But, I get in Doug's jeep to drive to the nursing home because my van is all decked out in kid carseats. When I go to close the door, I'm not used to the jeep door's curving in so much at the bottom, and the bottom corner slams into my knee, so now I'm not only grumpy but am bleeding and my knee is turning beautiful shades of blue & swelling. Yep--major attitude adjustment needed at this point.

I hobble into the nursing home, play 9 songs, and then I play the "Battle of the Hymn Republic" (ALL 5 verses) because that's what this one man requested last time. At the end, he is joyously grinning from ear to ear & he gives us a piece of paper on which he's written in a child-like scribble, "God knows each one of us better than we know ourselves." Maybe that doesn't speak to you at all, but it just caused me to stop. God knows all my problems, all the reasons I wanted to stay home. God knew when he asked me to take this position that it would involve some small sacrifices & since He knows me so well, He knew that I'd need a reminder that my heart needed to be in that sacrifice. When will I ever learn......