The Sound of Listening

I had an interesting dream the other night. It was this prestigious music audition and everyone was trying to be accepted into this amazing symphony. We were told the piece we were all to play was 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. Of course, that is a very simple selection for such an important audition, but we weren't going to ruin our chances of acceptance by pointing that out to our judges, and we certainly weren't going to take it upon ourselves to play something other than the appointed piece. Everyone ahead of me played the familiar tune and did so flawlessly.

When my turn came, I made my way to the music stand on the stage and began to play the childhood melody, but became confused when I noticed the piece on the stand was different from what I was expected to play. I tried to reconcile the two melodies, but found it was impossible to do so. I questioned everything at the point: had everyone else just ignored the sheet music? Were they too scared to play what was right in front of them? Were they just trying to do as they were told and refused to even look at the written notes? What exactly was I supposed to be doing? It became clear very quickly that I had to make a choice - do what was expected and what everyone else had done, or choose to play the music in front of me. I woke up before I saw the choice I made.

I would love to say I played the music on the stand, but from what I saw, it was a bunch of boring whole notes tied to half notes with long rests in a chain that seemed to go on indefinitely. Who wants to play something that just drags? But then, who wants to be like everyone else? Sound like everyone else? No, that's not appealing in a universe where GOD made everyone unique. But how scary is it to diverge from the accepted path, the familiar song, especially when every note is being weighed and judged?

Sometimes we find ourselves in that place where the norm is no longer good enough. What worked in the past will no longer be acceptable, and what everyone else does is not what we should be doing. It's that kind of challenge that stretches us and takes us up to that next level. And I think GOD is gracious enough to stretch us with whole notes rather than requesting "Flight of the Bumblebee" on our first solo trek into the realm of new things. (Plus, holding when we want to burst ahead grows trust on HIM, our conductor, to take us to the right place at the right time.)

I am pondering all of this as I am sidelined to my easy chair after knee surgery. Talk about a holding pattern! I am frustrated and want to go, but being forced to wait for the right time. Guess I needed to learn this lesson twice. (Hmpph!) And rest!