Trust

It was late fall, and getting cooler almost every day. I was helping my violin teacher give violin lessons to a class of fifth graders when one ten year old girl was wearing gloves as she opened her case, removed her violin, looked at me and said, “I’ll be wearing gloves while I play today.” I almost laughed, but I knew it would complicate things, and so I said, “Those won’t work for you while you’re playing.” “You mean I can’t wear them in class?” “No,” I said, you wouldn’t b able to play with gloves on.” I was thankful that she didn’t give me any argument as she removed the gloves. I told her that the hat she was wearing was cute, and we ended up on friendly terms.

“ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5)

One of the most often quoted scriptures, this short message speaks to Christians everywhere. Discovering Christ brings certain perception of our own habits of self reliance to the partial or total exclusion of Christ reliance, and then begins the struggle to make the transition of trust in ourselves to trust in our God. The biggest help in this is found in the scriptures, but the gentle Friend, the promised Holy Spirit, makes the path clear, and gives us a compass: “When the Advocate comes, whom I (Jesus) will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.”(John 15:26)

The violin class was an introductory class, and at the end only a few of the students chose to continue with the instrument. I was surprised at many of the ones who chose not to persevere. Their reasons were many, but one boy, Tyler, surprised me when he opted to stay and take orchestra class the next year. Tyler had not been particularly proficient, and his attendance was erratic, but one day I had seen his face when the teacher said, as Tyler was leaving, “You did some good work today, Tyler,” and I knew that those words had been heard seldom if ever by Tyler. I wished him well.

The girl who wanted to play the violin wearing gloves chose not to continue. I felt that she could have done well, but I wasn’t surprised.

The Spirit of truth is the Spirit of God in Christ, who is our North Star. He it is who directs our feet onto solid ground and speaks words that show us the way.

Love in Him,

Prue