“We invite you to sit down and play…”
I had visited quite a few hospitals that had pianos in a great room or in the lobby. But never had I seen one with a sign inviting people to sit and play.
My mom, wife, and I were visiting MUSC in Charleston, South Carolina, where my brother was undergoing surgery to repair a spinal injury from an old wreck. As the doctors worked on him, we ambled to the first floor to visit the cafeteria for breakfast. After we finished—and as we walked back to the elevator—I spotted the piano. Seeing the unusual sign, I read it to Mom.
“Singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.” – Ephesians 5:19 NLT
Mom’s a sucker for a piano. She’s been playing since she was a small child. She dreamed of becoming a concert pianist—which she probably could have accomplished—but she married my dad and became a preacher’s wife instead. But she never lost her love for tickling the ivories—and showing off a little at the same time.
“Oh really,” she said when I read the sign to her. Then she mosied over in her slow manner and took a seat. Mom can play anything, and without music, but gospel music is her specialty. She’s played it all her life, beginning when she played church hymns for the little Methodist congregation where she grew up.
In our culture, I wondered what kind of crowd she’d draw by playing church hymns. And MUSC is like taking all the cars in Atlanta, Georgia, turning them into people, and compressing them into a small area. A lot of folks going in a lot of different directions, all in a hurry.
As Mom progressed from one song to another, a few people stopped to enjoy. One young man took a seat instead of standing. He listened intently as Mom played the old gospel favorites. When we finally pried Mom away from the piano so we could check on my brother, the young man thanked her, wiped a few tears from his eyes, and walked away.
I must admit, I cringed when Mom sat to play. She has a way of embarrassing me and my brothers sometimes, but I guess she felt a prompting I hadn’t. Someone needed to hear what she played. I witnessed a God moment.
“So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia.” – Acts 8:27 NLT
Philip enjoyed a great revival in Samaria when God called him to go to a desert road where he met a single man. He must have wondered why God would send him to one person when he could have kept preaching to hundreds. He soon found out. That one man accepted Christ and then returned to his country to tell others about God’s love.
Catching the God moments in our lives requires sensitivity to the working of God’s Spirit in our spirit. Doing so also entails asking God to send them. He wants to—and is perfectly capable of arranging them—but we must want them and ready ourselves for them. When we are in close connection with God, which comes from staying prayed up and Bible read up, we’ll see the opportunities God sends for us to bless others in His name.
What can you do to better see the God moments?
