Beautiful Music

Last night, we went to a dinner that was part of the conference which I am attending. The entertainment was provided by Becky Archibald. Before you read more, go to that web site and listen a little bit. Go ahead; I'll wait.

Becky is a pianist and composer. (She also ate dinner at our table, which just added to our enjoyment of the whole thing.) Before she would play a piece of music, she would explain its genesis to us.

One piece of music, called Unspoken, was born when she decided that she would write a piece of music based on five notes randomly selected from a pile of flash cards that she uses with her students. Unfortunately, the notes were C, C#, C, B and D. Play those notes on a piano, and you'll notice that she didn't have much with which to work.

She tried several variations of the notes, and nothing sounded right, but once she "embraced the dissonance," everything fell together. Beautiful music was the result.

I think that's what happens when God gets hold of us. He embraces our dissonance -- he loves us not in spite of our flaws as his children, but through our flaws. He takes our less than perfect beings and creates and transforms us, until we are a new creation -- beautiful music recreated by our God. In fact, he uses those flaws themselves to create our beauty. We are transformed.

What results is a whole new creation.

See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare;before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Image: This is the Grand Hall of Union Station in Indianapolis. It is also where we had dinner last night. A beautiful setting!