lent 16 - playing second fiddle

 Last night I was at a worship team meeting at church.  Im not actually part of the worship team, but was invited along to hear about a bit of restructuring that is going on, re-envisioning and then a time of worship.  A cellist has recently joined the band - and she is wonderful.  Not only a seriously talented instrumentalist, but a spiritually sensitive player and worshipper.   As I listened to her honeyed undertones sweeping and swooping underneath the melody I was reminded of other times ( many of them) that I have found myself listening to something other than the tune.
                                        
A really good bass player or a really good drummer can add so much depth and spirit and prophetic content to a worship song.   There is something powerful and beautiful about a harmony which somehow engages the spirit in a different way from the tune.   I firmly believe that there is a drum beat which captures what God is doing at any given moment in heaven.  Sometimes it's a heartbeat, sometimes it's a battle cry.   Listen carefully to the worship band and hear what God is saying through the bass line and the drums and the harmonies.    As I was thinking about this I felt the Lord draw a comparison with the physical and the spiritual.  If life is a band then sometimes its not the people who are ' singing the tune' who add the most, it's those who are in the background, maybe even only playing one or two notes.   Every instrument is needed.  You might feel that you are only kicking a bass drum over and over,  or just playing three notes on the bass guitar and not really adding much to the tune.  But rest assured, without your contribution the song wouldn't sound right at all.   Not only that, but the Holy Spirit wouldn't be able to move through the song if you weren't doing your bit.  Because more often than not He works through those instruments which underpin and harmonise with the tune.

silly, but made me smile :)

If you feel like you are playing second fiddle to someone elses tune in some area of your life then be encouraged.  It might just be your part which God is using to speak to people, rather than the more obvious tune.  Just focus on playing your part with as much passion and care as you can.  And you will probably find, before very long, people are humming your harmony.