Wake Up From Your Sleep

My New Year’s Resolution for 2016 is to take one step at a time. I hope you will join me on my journey.

January 4, 2016

Day four, step two: Wake Up From Your Sleep.

How easy it is to become distracted and at times even lazy. I teach piano and voice lessons. However, at what cost. Time to improve my voice and piano skills and that poor flute is sitting in its case for years. In the past, I even wrote a hymn inspired by a retreat in the Swiss Alps. 

I studied for years, yet it is so much easier not to practice, not to play, not to sing, not to write – except when required by teaching.

The readings from the Revised Book of Common Prayer the last few days have encouraged me not to let my gifts become sleeper gifts. To wake them up and use them not only to provide our needed extra income, to build others gifts, but to praise God with them and for them.

Good people, cheer God!
    Right-living people sound best when praising.
Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
    Play his praise on a grand piano!
Invent your own new song to him;
    give him a trumpet fanfare. (Psalm 33:1-3 MSG) January 2

And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. (Colossians 3:17 MSG) January 3

Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20 MSG) January 4

Step two for 2016 is to carve out time each day to play the piano, to sing 
praises, to carve out Wednesday in such a way I have enough energy to attend choir rehearsal, to begin each Sunday helping to lead worship. Even set aside time to write – words and tunes. Set a priority. Create a schedule for regular practice.

However, start with baby steps. All at once and I am sure to fail.

·         Look at the calendar. Save enough energy to go to choir practice. Plan in a nap. Stay up past my usual bedtime this one day. Can I do it? I do not know. However, if I do not try, I will never know.

·         Sing the warm ups I assign to my voice students every day.

·         Get out the scale book. Play one scale on the piano six times each day for a week, just like I ask my students.

·         Play one hymn or praise song until I can play and sing it at tempo mistake free, just for God and me.

The gifts are God’s. Wake up! How we use them is entirely up to us. Wake up! What a shame to waste our gifts through disuse. Wake up! What gifts  are rusting from disuse? Wake up! Do not let your gifts be sleepers. Wake up! Share your plan.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
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