A Directionless Song

Ever since I was young, I was fascinated with all things piano. In kindergarten I remember sitting in our chapel, trying to get a peek at our organist as she played beautiful melodies to draw us into worship. At home, I would pound on my little kid keyboard pretending to play those melodies. Growing up in church, I would specifically choose a seat that was directly in front where the pianist sat, watching as he combined music with worship to our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

For as long as I can remember these things have been a very significant part of my life. I remember begging my mother for piano lessons at four and being ecstatic when she finally gifted me lessons when I was six. Music has always been a part of my life, and as I got older, I appreciated the way I could sit down at any time, pull out a piece of music, and play. But there was something else I discovered about myself and music that was more than the ability to sit down and play. It was the ability to create.

I could hear melodies in my head I could create at the piano. I could experiment with chord progressions to see which chords went with each note. I could add the spice of embellishments to spice up the melody or harmonies. The possibilities were limitless as I began to create. These sessions at the piano were sometimes formal, sitting down with the purpose of writing. Other times, these sessions were ways to express inner thoughts and turmoils words just could not do justice.

Regardless of whether sitting down and playing was planned or my own personal therapy session, I had a big problem. I wrote nothing down. I didn't create a melody, write it down, or experiment with it. I didn't want to take the time. Or worse, I didn't want to forget it and then write down something completely different and settle for something substandard. I wanted to just go. The tradeoff was my music didn't make any sense. Sure, sometimes I could go back to the original melody (if I could remember it). However, often times, the melody would change merely because I forgot what the melody was in the first place.

"I didn't want to take the time."

While what I was playing was pleasing to the ear and had beautiful melodies, chord progressions, and embellishments to the listener. It was directionless, meaningless, and didn't make a whole lot of sense. If music could be seen as a magazine and compositions could be considered collages, my pieces would resemble someone blindly cutting up a bunch of magazines and throwing a bunch of random pictures together. It just made no sense. I wasn't willing to slow it down and do what was necessary to make the piece good. I didn't have a direction, and therefore the piece was directionless. It resembled a piece of music that will continue to go on and on until I decide to end the piece. But it made no sense. The "song" was meaningless.

"I didn't have a direction, and therefore the piece was directionless."

Often, we view life the same way as I view writing music. Don't get me wrong, life could be fun, exciting even, but there isn't any direction. Eventually the novelty of what and how we're leaving wears off and we're left with the question "what are we doing." Even though what we are doing could be good, godly even, there is no meaning or drive behind. It's a continuous drone that goes on and on until we shut down.

King Solomon wrote in Proverbs "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law" (Pr 29:18). In other words, when we don't have a direction, our lives become chaotic. We have no direction, no idea where we are going. We're just flying by the seed of our pants, hoping that we will end up where we need to end up. King Solomon also has a phrase for this. He calls it a "chasing after the wind" (Ecc 1:14).

So, what is the alternative? Do we make our own plans? Because, if all we need is a plan, we could sit down and come up with one quickly. Well, I've tried that. I'm still working on my five-year plan from college and that was years ago. Solomon gives us the answer. It is those who are allowing God to be the director of our lives. God gives us gifts and abilities to use for his glory, but He wants us to trust in His plan. We tend to mess things up, but He has the ability to carry it out to completion (Phil 1:6).

So, the question is will we allow him to take control? I love music. I love sitting down at my piano and expressing all the melodies in my head. But He's melody is better than anything I could ever creation. His chord progressions are better than what I could achieve. Am I willing to allow Him to take over the composition and create the melody only He can.