Just Listen

Ever have one of those days? Like someone just yanked the covers off of you in the middle of a really good dream? I think we all have experienced sudden intense bouts of stress. I sat at the kitchen table this morning trying to catch up on some history reading that I was supposed to have finished yesterday, and was suddenly slammed with some tough questions. How will you ever get everything done that you need to get done to graduate? What were you thinking you could finish highschool early? What if that doesn't happen? Where will you go to college? Will you be accepted? How are you going to bring up your test grades? And there went the warm blanket. My mind laid there for a moment, cold and exposed now; rudely awakened from the dream I had been having of my relatively carefree life. I became completely caught up in the "what if's" and uncertainty I had been unwilling to face. I'm not sure what brought it about, but it seemed as if every indecision I'd ever had, every uncertainty, was surfacing, screaming through my brain. I had to make it stop. Somehow, I had to make all the questions and instability disappear. So, what did I do? What any reasonable musician would. I closed the history book and wandered in to the piano. I let my hands rest there on the keys for a moment, feeling their familiar warmth and potential beneath my frigid fingertips. It started with a note, as it always does, then slowly grew into something beautiful. I smashed the keys under my fingers, pouring all my frustrations and fear into the piano, and hearing them played back at me was liberating. I felt relieved, knowing that whatever uncertainties I have, and will have, that music will always be there for you at the end of the day. I thank God for the steadfastness of His music, and the liberating power it has, a constant reminder that the truth will set you free. You just have to clear your mind and listen for it.