I will never get tired of driving around. It is such a perfect time to truly relax, which means cleaning up my mind of its tangled-up ideas and memories, and putting them back on the shelves. It is the best time for thinking. So I was extremely ready to get back to Auburn, and enjoy the drive. After 6 weeks of literally never being alone, I really needed some peaceful quietness. So much has happened this summer and I need to digest it.
So anyway, I know what this post should be about, but I honestly don’t want to talk about it. There is too many things to explain for so little importance. I’ll recap the very few useful things I got out of field training, and try not to complain much, but not now. I also won’t talk about my recent trip just yet either (I had a surprise vacation to Italy right after I finished field training! It’s crazy how things happen!!) No, instead I’ll talk about what I want to talk about (which I think is kind of the point of a blog).
Whenever I start a long drive, I seem to have a ritual. The first 5 or 10 minutes (depending on what I’m doing or where I’m going) is spent thinking of anything I forgot to bring or do before it’s too late to turn around. That flawlessly fades into being relieved and happy that I’m on my way to wherever it is I’m going. I thank God for being able to go to such place and ask Him for a safe trip. Then that always turns into thinking about Him. It also helps that I’m usually leaving Auburn, which is one of the most beautiful places on earth and it’s sunny and gorgeous outside. I can’t help but become awestruck at His creation and the fact I’m a part of it.
Today, during this “phase” of my mind, I had, what I consider, a really great thought. What I consider really great, by the way, is anything that makes sense to me, or that I like. So “really great” probably isn’t “that great”. Anyway, isn’t God like a conductor? God is the conductor of the world, of all creation and every person. God, being outside time and space, knows the entire song. In fact, He also wrote the music. God stands in the front and gave the signal to start the piece, and so it started. But even before any note plays, God knew every instrument and every person needed to play it, and so has prepared to have His masterpiece perfect.
So, God stands in the front directing everything. Each person has an instrument that is just for him (and fits him perfectly, because God knows each of us perfectly), and will help us learn to play and tune it. These are the struggles and hard times. God is tuning us, and is helping us so that we may play flawlessly when it is our time in the music. We must concentrate on playing our instrument perfectly, so we are ready. And again, God is the one leading us through this.
Then we go to our chair, which is in the perfect place and next to the people we need to be next to, or (stay with me) the people we meet in life. We sit down and look to God for our time to play. If all goes right, you take His cue and, because of all the hard work put in, enter and join the song and play your part. If all doesn’t quite go perfectly it might seem like this: you may not appreciate the instrument given to you, you may even try to get a new one, or “upgrade” the one you have. You may not take to “practicing” well, or don’t think you need God’s help with tuning. You may try to change seats, or worse yet, not look to God for the cue. Even if you do start playing, looking away from God, or trying your own thing will only diverge from the perfect piece of music God has written.
But this actually won’t ruin anything, because God knows the notes you will play and has incorporated them into the music already. In fact, the orchestra that God is conducting includes every creature, every event in history, and in the future. It’s all in the song, being revealed one measure at a time. God has written it so every instrument, and the musician, has a crucial part in the piece. And each note is meaningful and connects with other instruments and melodies. Alone, one instrument can’t play the piece, but together they play looking to God for the next direction. From the beginning of time to the end, the piece will go on, even with the seemingly “mistakes” that the players make when they lose faith. In reality, those mistakes only make it more beautiful.
And then after all the time of struggles with learning to play that instrument, all the time checking the sound, when you begin to play, you begin to listen. You hear the beautiful, complex yet simple music, you see God directing the masses while giving full attention to each musician that’s struggling, you begin to see the entire picture. And that only makes you play more fervently, watching God even more intently, waiting eagerly on his every cue, even if its subtle, so you don’t miss it. You want to be perfect, so your part of the piece, contributing to the whole, is perfect. You want to please God and give Him glory for the song He wrote. And strangely enough, you were only able to do that because of Him.
So that’s my thought. I love car rides.
