Seated one day at the organ, I was weary and ill at ease...

 The organ is this photo is similar to our ward's organ

I was asked to play the organ for our congregation at our main church service on Sunday, as our regular organist was out of town.  Now, I spent a long time as a church organist, but it was many years ago.  I will admit I get worried playing the organ now, because I have arthritis in my wrists and shoulders and I don’t play properly using the foot pedals.  As I don’t play very often it becomes a nerve-wracking experience.  I’ve experienced being so nervous my hands shake, or get sweaty and slip off the keys!  But I asked specifically for those things not to happen, and my prayers were answered.  I made it through everything okay.  Phew!

What was funny, though, is that I kept feeling like the stops weren’t right… I think the instrument needs to be tuned and a top flute was just a little off and was rather squeaky. So, I kept flipping stops to see if I could fix the problem. Finally, by the closing song, I got it to sound the way I wanted it. It was very frustrating.

Later, I had several compliments on my playing. One lady told me I just made the organ “sing”. It was nice to hear, but I had to laugh, because I know how I experienced my organ playing – full of inadequacies.  Being told by people in the congregation how they experienced it, I am left to conclude that the Holy Ghost makes up the difference.

Sometimes I think the Lord just wants you to show up and He does all the heavy lifting.

That's a comforting thought.