Saturday, February 12, 2011

Tied to the Piano

One of My Signs from God: A Rainbow

Nehemiah 9:17 NIV
"But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love."

I sat in front of the ancient, upright piano horrified as I tugged on the cord wrapped around my robe. Somehow, the fringes on the bottom of the braided cord had gotten tangled in the inner workings of the piano behind the pedals.

There was no backboard behind the pedals, and the cord had twisted itself around the metal gears of the pedals. Every time I had stepped on a pedal, the cord had wound itself tighter around the mechanisms.

I was tied securely to the inner parts of the piano.

I was currently playing piano during an inspection of an organization I belonged to in high school.  We wore long white robes held together with braided cords. We looked rather angelic. We each had offices and positions with speaking parts and duties to fulfill.

Mine was musician. I was the only one in the group who could play the piano, so I had been musician for a long time. This was the first time I had been tied to the piano. Luckily, the piano was located in a far corner of the room, and I wasn't clearly visible to the audience.

We had inspections twice a year, and, of course, everyone we knew was invited to attend. We were graded on how well we performed our duties. I was sure being tied to the piano during inspection was not acceptable.

My dad, who had taught me how to play, was our Music Director.  He was the adult in charge of the musician, so his chair was placed next to me. 

I tried for the longest time to free myself, but the more I tugged, the tighter I made the connection of the cord to the piano.  Finally, I had to get dad's attention for help.

"Dad-dad!!" I whispered as loudly as I dared.

He gave a look to shush me and turned away.

"Dad!" I tried again.  

This time he moved in toward me. 

"What?" 

"I'm stuck to the piano!"

"Lori! What have you done?" He laughed as he tugged on the cord.

"I didn't do anything! It just happened!"

Dad got out of his chair and onto his hands and knees and crawled under my legs to look into the hole behind the pedals. I could hear him muttering under his breath as he untangled the cords.  He laughed at my predicament as he tried to free me from the old piano without anyone seeing us.

Finally, dad released me. We suppressed our laughter as best we could, and I think we escaped without anyone noticing our problems.

Dad was great that night. He handled the situation with humor and grace. We often laughed about that moment we shared with each other.

Thankfully, God is like that. 

There are times I get tied up in a mess I'm not sure how I got into, and God helps me get untangled.

He sends someone to advise me. A sermon to inspire me. A sign to lead me. A book, song or message. He reintroduces a person into my life I haven't heard from in years. God always helps me find my way out of the maze of life's piano gears.
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Lord, Thank you for untying my cords and freeing me when I get into trouble in life.

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