Gratitude Day #15
Today I am grateful for my God-given musical talent.
I feel like this is a post that is oft-repeated, for I tend to mention it often. But, I would be remiss if I didn't thank God for the talents and abilities He gave to me.
My talent became evident when I was about age four. My parents and I were living in a log cabin. Lots of family and church activities took place in that cabin. It burned down about a year or so ago. It had been my home until I was age 5.
Mom and Dad got me a tiny piano for Christmas when I was four years old. It has survived every move we ever made - even to Bethesda, Maryland. It survived in my own home with four young children. I imagine it would be an antique in today's world.
Today it sits in an enclosed attic room about three feet away from me, protected well.
My tiny piano that my parents bought me for Christmas in 1959.
When my dad was bishop of our local congregation, he became aware of a family that was selling their spinet piano. Apparently the wife's mother was sending them a grand piano, and they would no longer be needing the smaller one.
Dad arranged to buy it from them for $300 at $50 per month.
On the evening of my eighth birthday, I heard a pickup truck backing into our driveway. Dad owned his own business, so it wasn't unusual to have frequent deliveries of anything.
Then, to my utmost surprise, a piano came rolling it, making its home in our living room.
I truly thought I was the richest little girl in the entire world. As I look back, indeed I was! I had no idea that something this beautiful and this grand and so expensive would have my name on it.
I began playing it that evening. I had progressed to the point where nearly anything I heard I could play by ear. I still can.
And, this piano sits proudly in my living room to this day.
My four children took piano lessons. Kerry took piano lessons. And this marvelous instrument is the one everyone in the house practiced on.
It was never off-limits to my children, unless they just chose to bang on it. But, I had told them the rules ahead of time; of the sacrifice of my parents, the preciousness of it in my own eyes. I actually don't remember any of them abusing it.
Some of my fondest memories was when we would gather the six of us around and sing for about half an hour or more before it was time for the kids to go to bed. I taught them to sing parts and to harmonize. We often had brother and sister duets, father and daughter duets, mother and son duets, a sextet - you name it! When family members sing together, there is a natural harmony that takes place.
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My spinet piano that arrived on my eighth birthday.
My piano lessons began at $1 per half hour. That continued for several years from a woman whose washer my dad had fixed. At some point she had to raise it to $1.25, and it became a bit more difficult to come up with that extra quarter. A few years after that, it went up to $1.50. I continued to take lessons, and we were digging through old purses and coat pockets and couch cushions to find those two quarters. I didn't take lessons too much longer after that.
Mom and dad sacrificed for me. And, because of their sacrifice I have been able to play many others instruments besides the piano. Once that keyboard is in your head, the other instruments seem to come easier.
For the better part of 55 years, I have played either the piano or the organ for church. I have played for weddings and funerals. I have played the Tabernacle organ in Salt Lake City. I was speaking in Virginia and attended the local congregation there. They had never heard their organ played, and when they found out I could do it they quickly searched for the key to unlock it. They were able to hear their organ played for the first time.
Plus, I was even one of the session musicians for recordings in Nashville.
Music has been my outlet for comfort, for anger, for peace, for pleasure, for praise. And, I am grateful to the Lord for allowing it to come easy to me. In turn, I have tried to bless others.
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