What Matters More

I was playing piano during the worship service at our church.  This doesn't happen often, but I'm glad for the opportunity when it does.  I was nervous (as usual), and there were a couple of hymns I didn't know as well as I would have liked.  I suppose it was inevitable...

Sure enough, it happened.  About halfway through one of the hymns, I hit the wrong note.  I still don't know how many people noticed (I was afraid to ask), but it was loud and clear to me.

Suddenly, I was even more nervous than before.  I had a hard time playing notes and stanzas that I had easily played at home.  In one hymn, I even had to stop playing for a measure or two and then start again.  And everyone was there to hear it!

Finally, I finished the last verse of the last hymn.  Relieved (but embarrassed), I returned to my seat, only for my brother to point out that I had only played four verses of the last song (there were five).  I'm grateful that the music leader is capable of impromptu.

Back in my seat, I listened to the sermon off and on as my mind wandered.  Why did my mistakes bother me so much?  What was I so concerned about?

When I pulled myself back to the present moment (and the sermon), I heard: "You will know what a person's heart is like by their actions, attitudes, their words...and how they respond when things don't go quite so well."

Hmmm.  By "how they respond when things don't go quite so well."  Like when I miss a note on the piano.  More than once.  In front of the entire church.  And here I was, lost in my thoughts about my piano proficiency and embarrassed at what others must think.

There was more to the sermon, of course.  "A person's life is a reflection of what is in their hearts...Spiritual fruit in a person's life cannot happen unless the heart is set to glorify God."

"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?"

Galatians 1:10

As I sat in church that morning, I knew that my heart was not set on God's glory.  I was thinking (and caring) more about what others thought of me, my skills, my abilities.

But at the end of the day, what others may think of me or my skills will not matter.  At all.  What will matter more?

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."

Colossians 3:23-24

That is better than the applause of man any day.

Image courtesy of Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Insignificant?

It has been awhile since I read an entire book in a single day.  When I first cracked the cover of Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place late yesterday afternoon, I didn't think I would finish that night.  But I did, eight minutes before "last night" became "this morning."  I was familiar with the ten Boom story - I think I read a short biography of her once - but I had never read The Hiding Place.  Wow!  I was blown away by her account of faith, love, peace, and forgiveness during one of the darkest times of modern history.  In her book, she traced God's work in her life from her childhood all the way through to the end of the war, and it is a beautiful story. So many aspects of her story have been imprinted on my mind, but I was surprised at how much one insignificant little sentence stood out to me.

A few chapters into the book, Corrie describes their daily routine at the clockmaker's shop there in Holland, aptly summarizing it this way: "And so was established the pattern our lives were to follow for over twenty years."

Twenty years!  They kept that same pattern for twenty years?!  Day in.  Day out.  The family members all had their assigned tasks and responsibilities that they fulfilled each and every day.  They even took their daily walk at the same time each day - on the same route!

They were so content to live that way - no "next big thing" or exciting "change of pace."  They were faithful in the little things (daily walks) and the big: the ten Boom family took in eleven children over the years who needed a home.

Throughout The Hiding Place, through all the stories and anecdotes Corrie ten Boom shares of her childhood as well as her adult years, the ten Boom family was known as a loving, welcoming family.  No matter someone's social standing, problems, or needs, they were welcomed with open arms.  Always.  Even if they had nothing to offer in return.  Even if they were a "competitor," such as the watchmaker down the street.

For so long they had kept the same routine.  For so long they had done things "normally," even, perhaps, somewhat monotonously.  There was nothing significant or incredible about their daily lives, except that they spent each day in faithful service to God and love toward others.

As the black clouds of World War II spread over Holland and the life that they had known for decades began to change drastically, the ten Booms rose to the challenge.  No more daily walks on the same route.  No more simple clockmaker life.  "This was evil's hour," Corrie wrote, adding that "we could not run away from it."  And they didn't.  Even though their entire way of life was completely changed, they faced each new day just as they always had.

Before the War, they had lived in faithful service to God and love toward others.

During the War, they lived in faithful service to God and love toward others.

That's it.  In a way, everything changed.  In a way, nothing did.  The ten Booms still sought to please God in every area of life.  They still kept their hearts and home open to anyone in need.  They still sacrificed their own comfort, ease - now even their safety - for the sake of others.

I'm not saying it was easy, or that they never struggled with the new challenges they faced.  Somehow, some way, those twenty years must have prepared them for this.  Interesting, isn't it?  Even though their circumstances changed so drastically, their attitude before God seemed to be the same as it had been before.  Faithful service and love.

The ten Booms' daily, ordinary, almost-monotonous, seemingly-insignificant life was the setting where God chose to work.  What might He choose to do through ours?

"But this is what the past is for!
Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for a future
that only He can see."

Corrie Ten Boom

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