Playing the Keys

I take piano lessons once a week, and once a week I royally embarrass myself in front of a well-accomplished pianist. When I try to play a piece that Mr. Parrini (puh-ree-knee) has assigned, I often sound like a toddler banging on a plinky toy piano. Parrini can play the exact same melody and it sounds like heaven. All I can do is grit my teeth, listen to his advice, and bang out the piece "a little bit better."

If I actually play something well, I glance at him with a sheepish smile, eager to see if he'll offer the compliment that I would so like to hear:

"Guud job. You did that well. But maybe try. . ." In his distinct Italian accent, he verbally pats me on the back and gives me a firm push to do a little bit better. 

In this week's lesson, I made one quick comment, and it received a reply that applies to much more than just piano. 

Me: "Funny thing is, my mind is telling me exactly what to do. My fingers just won't do it."

Parrini: "Don't assume that just by looking at a page, music will be played."

He explained that learning piano is about developing mechanical response in your fingers. Even for "prodigies," the fingers don't magically know what to do just because your mind knows what they should do. Every pianist has to train their fingers to work melodies, harmonies, dynamics, articulations, rhythms, and countless other factors together to produce music that is pleasing to the ears. According to Parrini, the key is to slow down and learn to respond correctly to the music you see on the page or hear in your mind.

Slow down and learn. . . . 

How often do I bulldoze through life without learning to respond correctly to what I know is right? There is learning to be done in everyday situations, from mistakes and accomplishments and observations that I make in the little things, yet I dash by with my mind set on the big things looming on the horizon. Listening to my teacher talk, I was reminded that, plain and simply, you must walk before you can run.

I'll never learn a piece of music without first playing it at a speed that I can handle ("No no no, Aaron, you can't just THROW notes together. Stop, play it SLOWER..."). The song of life tends to come at us at a ridiculous tempo. Sometimes, we just have to relax, slow down, and learn the small things for the music to sound best.   

   

Ready, Set, Go!

    Hello everyone!
 
    Many of you know that I’m studying linguistics in college and that I’m passionate about bible translation. Sadly, there are still about 1,900 languages in the world that do not have any scripture in their language. A bible translated into the heart language of a people group allows people to hear God’s word in a way that they truly understand, and they can use written language to tangibly preserve their history, culture, and heritage.
   
     I’ve now been given the opportunity to help do something about this poverty of scripture! March 14-16, my team (Team Kenya, which is me and three others) will represent North Greenville University in Race to 2025: African Sign Languages. We’ll participate in an adventure race at Doe River Gorge in Tennessee, where we’ll run, hike, bike, canoe, rappel, and whatever else we have to do to locate a “hidden village” where villagers who speak an unwritten language will be waiting our arrival. Once we navigate the geographic challenges, we’ll have to conquer an even more daunting task: solving the linguistic challenges presented by the villagers (who don’t speak English). The course and these linguistic challenges replicate the physical and linguistic difficulties faced by language surveyors, the frontline workers of bible translation.

     Our goal is to raise $2,000 by March 7th to support the training of indigenous bible translators for African Sign Languages. The deaf are one of the most unevangelized and spiritually neglected peoples in the world, and these native translators have a vision to see God’s word accessible to deaf people all across Africa. To aid these sign language translators, Wycliffe has offered training and support, which is detailed further in the attached information page about this sign language project.
   
     I would appreciate your partnership and support in this endeavor. If you would like to support through giving, simply click on this link (Donation Form) (please write "Aaron J Harris: Team Kenya in the comments/special instructions box on the donation page) or download the attached donation form and mail to Wycliffe Bible Translators (the address is on the form).
 
     More importantly, however, please lift up this bible translation project and the deaf of Africa in prayer. God’s power to save is incredible and unending, and our obedience to His calling to take the gospel to the ends of the earth begins by placing the gospel within reach of the natives.     

Thank you, and grace be with you!

African Sign Languages
Donation Form (front) (Please write "Aaron J Harris: Team Kenya" on the "donation to support" line)
Donation Form (back)

Rejoice in the Gift

Satisfaction in humility is one of the greatest joys of following Christ. 

"However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." -Luke 10:20

Christ sent out 70 or so of His followers to preach and prepare the cities for His coming. Returning to Christ a little later, they were ecstatic that even the demons had submitted to the power that God had allowed them. However, Jesus reminds them that power isn't the most amazing part of the story: God's grace is. It's God's gift of salvation that they should be thankful for, not just the supernatural acts that come with His power. 

Of course, we are rightfully thankful for all that God does. Rejoicing in God's grace, though, brings the greatest joy. 

Human pride is never right. In humility we find satisfaction.    

A Quick Thought: Taste and See

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"

I've always related this verse with the satisfaction of trusting in God, the pleasure of knowing Him. Like a big, juicy steak, the assurance of trusting God fills and satisfies our souls. 

However, there's more to tasting than satisfaction. 

When you take the first bite of a delicious meal, do you throw the fork down and proclaim the meal finished? No! If one taste is delicious, you want another! Would a worn and hungry man be satisfied with a single bite of a hardy, well-prepared meal, or would he immediately desire more?

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Even a morsel of God's love, providence, and sovereignty is enough to set our souls to craving more.    

Desires

Much has happened since I last wrote on this blog, and there are simply not enough minutes left in my day to play catch up. I'm not even going to try.

I'm facing a workload like never before-worse even than last semester, which I thought at the time to be the most I could possibly handle. If you will, please pray that I will trust and rely on God's strength and grace will carry me through this semester. It's the only way that I'll make it (It's the only way any of us can make it), and I am keenly aware of my all-too-frequent attempts to take life head on by trying harder and harder in myself. It never quite works out, I always reach the same conclusion: We are made to let God work. That conclusion brings me to my point. 

The Lord is teaching me many things from the recent happenings in my life (especially from my relationship experience). However, there has been one theme that keeps resurfacing in nearly every conclusion, in nearly every thought or quiet time. For some reason, it's a lesson that, as we all seem to do, I have resisted over and over again. 

There is much joy, much delight, and much fulfillment in yielding to the will of our Savior. 

Why are our hearts so stubborn? Thank God for grace. In following His will, we find grace at it's fullest. There is grace for our mistakes, grace for our failures, and grace for our daily lives; however, in His will, amazing grace becomes unbelievable grace. By "His will," I do not mean some kind of mystic revelation of a life plan. Nor do I mean a vision of exactly what to do, say, or decide. I simply know that there are some things that we KNOW to be right. Especially putting aside all things selfish. By throwing ourselves on the power and grace of our God, we can do the things that we KNOW to be right. Step by step. Moment by moment. Thought by thought. 

Joy comes fullest with relying on God's grace. Joy comes fullest in following His will. Joy comes fullest in glorifying HIM. And that is why we are here.