(Photo credit: SpeakerX)

This Sunday morning in Sunday School we had a special blessing.  Alicia Waite played "Jesus I Am Resting, Resting" for us on the piano in the Fellowship Hall.  That piano is fairly old and I suspect it doesn't get much use.  I think it has one or two keys which may need a little work, yet when Alicia's fingers touched those keys, she made them sing.

The music coming from the old piano was not just the result of Alicia's effort that morning, it was the result of years of practice, years of study and as her father has often told us, years of lessons.  Alicia however, had to have applied herself well to present us with such a performance.  In fact, I have been greatly blessed every time I have ever heard her play.  I like to close my eyes and envision the notes as different colored bubbles floating around in the air, bouncing to the rhythm of the music.

Sometimes I feel like the old piano.  I know I have a "couple of keys" that need work.  Sometimes we may even feel as if we have been put in an out of the way place where we won't be used much anymore.  That doesn't mean the Lord doesn't want to use us.  It doesn't mean He doesn't intend for us to "sing" when touched by His fingers.  We are meant to be His instruments in this world for the blessing, encouragement and comfort of others, regardless of how tired, old or "out of tune" we feel.  We trust that through the touch of our Master's Hand, His strength will be made perfect in our weakness.

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.   For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Romans 6:11-14

The Touch of the Masters Hand 

by Myra 'Brooks' Welch

Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while 
to waste much time on the old violin,
but held it up with a smile; 
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?" "A dollar, a dollar"; then two!"

"Only two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three? 
Three dollars, once; three dollars twice; going for three.." 
But no, from the room, far back, 
a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow; 
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin, 
and tightening the loose strings, 
he played a melody
pure and sweet as caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer, 
with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; "What am I bid for the old violin?" 
And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? 
Two thousand! And who'll make it three? 
Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and gone," said he. 
The people cheered, but some of them cried, 
"We do not quite understnad what changed its worth." 
Swift came the reply: "The touch of a master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune, 
and battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, 
much like the old violin, 
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on. 
"He is going" once, and "going twice, He's going and almost gone." 
But the Master  comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand 
the worth of a soul and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.