and so, note by note, she plays

To feel the weight of each key, and then to hear it echo back, deep, rich, and riveting with emotion, that was what always drew her to the piano. To hear each note, sounding loud from the keys, to hear it resonate through the silence, that was what inspired her to sit down and play.

She sits down and her fingers remember even when she does not. She closes her eyes and its all there, somehow her fingers always remember how to move along the keys, they never forget. Was it from years of practice, hours of repetition, or was it simply because this was always where they felt as if they belonged. She never forgot how to feel the keys under her fingers. The technicalities have never mattered because once she sits down, her fingers always find their place.

And so, she plays.

The refrain was sounding as it should, and then suddenly the notes keep coming out all wrong. She looked up from the piano, took a deep breath and tried again. Still, it sounded off. Once more the persistence within her urged her to try again, again. Until finally she lowered her head on the piano. Where was this not coming out as it should, where was it going wrong?

Then something reminded her, if you want to play music through the hard parts, then you have to play the left hand alone. The right hand is your default and it will always come naturally, but you have to play the left alone, again and again, and then it will come.

It will come? Would it? Because after an hour of hearing the same inapt notes, it was hard to be optimistic.

So she played again, reminding herself, when you can play the left from memory, you can play through the rest. Note by note, she walked through the lines on the sheet. Note by note, she was committing each one to memory. For when it was time to play through the entire piece, knowing the right notes was the only way to play through the hard parts.

And you can’t really play, unless you know how to play through the hard parts.

And you know how to play through life’s hard parts when you know His love by heart.

She waits for a moment, remembering this. The first note sounds, holding on, and then the rest just come.

It's knowing who He is. It’s knowing His love by heart, His words by heart, His touch, His presence.

It’s knowing Him.

That’s how we play through the hard parts.