What to Do When the 'Rests' Come?

This is one of the busiest times of the year for our music volunteers. All are hard at work preparing music for this wonderful season. But, like Christmas, it's easy to become so focused on the work at hand we can overlook the message we're working on.

Two of the fundamental elements of music are 'notes' and 'rests'. Simply put, 'rests' are beats or sections where there is no music. John Ruskin, one of England's greatest thinkers of the 19th century, once pondered the importance of 'rests' in a musical composition. He began to compare those 'rests' put in by a composer to the 'rests' that come to us in life; the times, for example, when our lives seem to be put on hold for awhile. The times when, for whatever reason, we are compelled to sit and wait until we realize God is now telling us to move on ... out of the wilderness into the promised land God has prepared. Ruskin wrote: 'There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it.'

So as God lets the music of our lives unfold, be pleased with the tune, 'rests' and all.