Her name was Emma MacDonald. She was a single lady, at that time known as a spinster: a woman dedicated to the training and teaching of piano lessons for young children. With relentless energy, she arrived at our home weekly ready to take on the music education of the four children in our family. I was the fourth child awaiting her energetic approach to music. But at three years of age, I was the least interested and the most challenging of the children.
Over time, she came to a decision about my future as her piano student. “She has no talent”, she explained to my mother. “There’s no reason to continue her lessons.” And so, my piano lessons ended without argument. Ms. MacDonald was clearly the expert.
Fast forward through high school, college, marriage and three children. And then, enter God! And God had a very different picture of music and people and life and gifts. In an entirely unexpected series of God Moments, I bought a piano, remembered my early piano training and volunteered to write a musical to celebrate my church’s 90th anniversary!
And from that moment forward, a door was opened to the miracle of music and the power of God and Spirit in my life. The 90th anniversary musical I wrote was a total success, described as “the best thing the church had ever done!” Opportunities to write more music regularly appeared without my seeking or searching for them.
My heart and spirit took on an entirely new, unexpected and unplanned identity. At first, I couldn’t say the words out loud - they were too new and too precious. But in my spirit, I had a new name: I had become a composer. God was surely the energy and the reason and the gift giver, filling my heart and spirit with a seemingly endless supply of melodies and harmonies.
And then came the most unexpected gift of all. Out of the harmonies of melody and words and life and people came the audacious idea of ministry…my going into ministry. Oh God, I really love your gift of music, but ministry! No, I don’t think so. You’ve created a life for me as a composer for which I will be forever grateful. I will spend the rest of my life in praise and thanksgiving for your amazing gift of music.
But, as I have discovered, when God has an idea, doors open, and a flood of new life appears without my asking nor seeking nor even thinking about it. It was the 1960’s and new ideas were everywhere. And the rightness of God’s directive would not go away. My spirit had awakened to the harmony of God’s Presence and God would not, and could not, be denied.
Music and Ministry became linked in praise and understanding and moments of harmony that transcended life’s unknowns and questions. Music had the power to reach into my heart and spirit and find a place of union with the divine. And music, combined with words, could lead into new knowledge and understanding that opened my eyes and ears to my spirit, hungry for connection and new life. I had learned a new language of spirit that would connect me to the entire world around me.
I have just honored my 52nd anniversary of ordination into ministry. I will soon have my precious piano tuned to begin a new time of composing. And I have just celebrated my 90th birthday. As I think about my life, I know that God and music and people and ministry have collected the pieces of my life and woven them into a fabric of time and love and gratitude.
And, I am in awe of God’s Persistence. I never question ANY of God’s ideas. I think of God Moments as those times when God becomes “real” in our lives. And I know, with all my heart, mind and spirit, that God’s other name is always “SURPRISE!”
