Choir, as a metaphor for the other crazy areas of my life...

What a great Sunday! I had a fun brunch with some RS friends, a productive choir practice, and a great church meeting block.  Then the family sat down and ate dinner together (we've really been too busy for that lately) and watched a movie together (see previous parenthetical comment).  Nice evening!

My branch choir sang today and sounded awesome (as they always do)--I wish I could take more credit for that (because I like taking credit for things...), but I'm pretty sure all the credit belongs to the choir themselves and to the heavenly help they get every time we sing.  I'm just the crazy person standing in front of them, waving my arm oh-so-helpfully to the beat of the music.

That makes me laugh, actually--we are singing a number with an a cappella section.  We'd practiced it several times, with me diligently leading each time, and finally the time came to try it with no piano.   For crying out loud--the song got slower with every note.  Seriously--we slowed so much we almost stopped.  I was still leading at the same speed, but no one was watching me.  Their eyes are glued to the music, so I think they're just used to following the piano!  I finally had to start clapping to the beat to get them up to tempo without the piano.  No one in the choir seems to question this method, but every time I think about it, I crack up--what am I even DOING up in front of the choir?  They're not watching me, and now I have proof!

My single consolation is that the choir pianist DOES watch me (Jennifer Hansen, if you ever read this, know that I think you're a genius).  The problem with that is she is better at setting tempos than I am, so I usually follow HER.  Sigh.  Callings are blessings to help you grow, right?

And it made me think--how often do we try to direct our lives, happily waving our arms, like we're in charge of the tempo and dynamics of the music playing, only to discover, somewhat awkwardly, that we're really not in charge at all, and the best we can do is try to keep up, knowing that someone wiser, more talented, and way more qualified is actually in charge?

Every moment is a teaching moment.  Life lessons--gotta love 'em!