Fine Tuning

I am sitting here listening to an elderly man tune my piano by ear. When he first arrived, I showed him my low C. This key is constantly making a 'twangy' sound after it is played, and then sometimes it stops playing abruptly. I didn't know how to fix it. Now I do. He is kind enough to show me all sorts of tricks, and I feel confident that if I had the tools, I could tune a piano by ear. I love learning new things, especially things that are useful to me. I pay him 85 Euro per tuning, per year. I could tune 2 pianos a week and make what I make teaching piano for 12 hours a week. Anyway, back to that C, it sounds terrible. When my piano students are playing, it is an obvious error because they tend to pluck the keys. When I play, I am able to cover it pretty gracefully, but it is a strain on the finely-tuned ears that God has given me. I always hear it, even when other people don't. He fixed it first. He saw my face and knew that I wouldn't leave him until that C was making pretty sounds again. He fixed it, showed me how, and said, "See? All better," with a big grin on his face. I like Mr. Melchior. He also doesn't correct my German, which is nice. I like practicing on people who take the time to let me try.

You all know what's coming. What did God say to Tori while this tuning was going on? Well, almost immediately I felt like that out of tune C, which was throwing off the entire sound of my piano, was like our little sins that we don't think are important enough to take care of. I almost started crying right there on the spot. God whispered to me, "See, daughter? Your entire life with 88 keys can 'sound,' to human ears, quite beautiful; but I hear every note." I am tearing up as I write this, out of sorrow for my own stubbornness and also out of joy because I know that God's grace is sufficient for me, and that He's not finished with me yet!!!

Matthew 5:30 says "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Matthew 18:8 says, "If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire."
John 15:2 "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

So, maybe we can't be so drastic that we cut off our limbs. I mean, who would make the sandwiches? However, can't we all afford a little "fine tuning?"