This Saturday, Sophia will make her violin debut at the Festival of Trees in Springfield. She'll stand up with about 20 kids ranging in age from 3 to 16 and they'll all start the concert with variations of Twinkle Twinkle little star. Sophia only knows the first one ("Everybody Down-Up" for those of you who know the Suzuki method). Kind of. I mean, she kind of knows it. And she kind of just fakes it. So we're trying to learn how to listen for the tune and make sure her notes sound like the tune is supposed to sound.

It reminds me of a game my friend Rachael used to play with her mom: Match the pitch. Her mom would hear any random sound....the buzz of a fridge, an oven timer, or the whine of a belt on the car and challenge Rachael to match the pitch with her voice.

I got to thinking about how listening to God and learning to let the holy spirit lead is kind of like that game. It's learning to see God and then match my life to fit in line with what He's doing. It's listening for the pitch, and then adjusting mine to match. And it doesn't come immediately.....after just 2 1/2 months, Sophia says she's ready to quit taking violin lessons. Is it because she doesn't like playing? No, she loves it when she can make the violin sound good....it's because it's hard. It requires practice. It doesn't always come easy or sound very good. But I know that if she sticks with it (at least for a little while longer), she's going to suddenly be able to play without so much help from me....she's going to enjoy playing for other people and knowing that what she's playing actually sounds like a song!

I'm hoping that day will come quickly for Sophia. For me, too....the more I look to see what God is doing, the easier to trust, the more natural it is to wait on Him. It takes practice. It doesn't come easy. But when it comes, the peace that comes with it is the big payoff.