Just Give It A Try

Recently, it was announced that our superintendent is retiring. I was excited to hear this news. Then I felt a little guilty about being excited. It wasn't because I delight in our superintendent leaving. I think he's a really great guy actually. One thing I have always appreciated about him is that he actually knows my name! However, I do always really look forward to changes like this though because it's exciting to see the dominoes fall....assuming someone within the organization is chosen as the new superintendent. Time will tell! 

How do you respond to change? 

Do you get angry and talk about how the changemakers are wrong? 

Do you grumble when you have to do things differently?

Could you hold off and give it a try?

When I was 12, I graduated from primary, the children's program at church. Usually, all the girls who had turned 12 then started to volunteer in the nursery. They loved helping adults look after the babies. This was my plan. I was really looking forward to it. However, the powers that be asked if I would be the pianist for the children's singing time. I was not impressed. 

I had started taking piano lessons when I was 8. I was not a gifted pianist and I knew that accompanying singing time would require some work and practice. At that time, primary was after school each day so my avoidance strategy was to just not come straight home from school. My mother took umbrage with this and gave me a LONG lecture about how she had paid for piano lessons and I was being disrespectful and no daughter of hers....you know how that goes. 

I started playing the piano for primary. 

I really don't even remember the experience of playing the piano there. Judging from seeing other people take on this assignment, my guess is I bumbled through a lot of songs and really wasn't very good at it. I'm sure there were plenty of people who could have done the job way better than I did. However, it was something that changed my life.

We moved away from that house to another province when I was 13. I continued to take piano lessons. I continued to accompany for various choirs and congregations at church. Eventually, I even played the organ for sacrament meetings. 

Fast forward to today. Accompanying on the piano is something that I can do on a second's notice. I am very comfortable with all the hymns and children's music. I also play the organ. I'm still no gfited pianist. I really don't practice enough and now and then I get asked to play songs that are beyond my skills or the time I have to practice. However, it doesn't make me nervous and I can do it quite easily and readily. 

If I hadn't tried when I was 12, I wonder where I'd be now.

If you think something isn't worth your while, consider holding on to your reticence just for a moment. Keeping an open mind can pay off in the long run. Put your trust in God and just give it a try. He certainly has extended my abilities.