Sour Notes

I spent the better part of the day recently working on a music box. When I say “better part”, it is not because I spent the majority of the day so occupied, but rather that of those activities that filled my day, this was the comparatively better part. Musical movements are remarkably simple in principle. A winding key stores energy in a spring, a governor regulates the release of this energy to a rotating cylinder, and individual pins on the cylinder connect with individual tines of varying length on a comb, producing a melody. Simple, though a remarkable degree of precision is required in the functioning of each element to produce a pleasant melody, rather than an inharmonious cacophony. The movement that held my attention today, even prior to my efforts, played beautifully… with the exception of one discordant note.

Now, it would have been easy enough to ignore since the problematic note occurred only once during the rendering of two very pleasant melodies, but it was a flaw that could be corrected. As I worked on the box, it occurred to me how remiss we often are in rectifying the discordant notes in our own lives. As Christians, we can so easily make allowances for our shortcomings with a dismissive “God isn’t done with me yet” or “His strength is made perfect in my weaknesses”. These statements, true though they are, often allow us to excuse us from making any effort to rectify those flaws which are well within our ability to address. Personally, I have difficulty with relationships. There are people in my life whom I dearly love, but I defer to them to do the work of maintaining open lines of communication. I expect that they understand it is hard for me and in so understanding they are obligated to reach out and connect. As in a musical movement, I am expecting them to twist the winding key and inject energy into the relationship. As I wait for them, the relationship languishes motionless and silent.

With my fondness for things mechanical, I have repeatedly explained (lectured?) to my family that the worst thing you can do to any mechanism is not to use it. That musical movement that plays so beautifully may struggle to overcome the inertia if left unused for months or years. How sad that I did not grasp that the same truth exists in the mechanics of relationships. Years ago a friend with whom I shared a mutual enthusiasm for vintage radios showed me his collection. High shelves lined almost every room of his home with an amazing collection of radios from the 1920’s and ‘30’s. Each one had been carefully restored and gleamed in polished cabinets with exotic inlays and intricate designs. He proudly told me that every one of them played. However, the truth was that every one of them played at the time it was placed on the shelf. He had a collection of fully restored radios, but he could only make that claim if he was careful never to plug them in again and test them.  He had an incredible collection of radios, but possessed none that he could listen to and enjoy, as any attempt to do so would shatter his illusion.

So, as with musical movements and radios, relationships do not sit static while you live your life. Each relationship strikes a certain note in your heart and to ignore them is to sentence yourself to a silent and lonely life. God has set the tune, and I am going to work to restore and repair the missing and discordant notes of the song that is my life.