Tune My Heart
I made a discovery this week. Tucked unobtrusively into the corner by the couch in the crew's lounge is a guitar.
If you know me for any length of time, you'll know that I am "full of song." When ashore this comes out in snippets of happy song as I run up and down stairs, whistled tunes as I walk, or worship songs on the violin in church. When my soul needs solace, I find it in the solitude of piano hymns in the evening with just a single light on the music.
On ship I mute my music before it comes out. This is out of respect for my crew and for the unwritten code of ship-board life. I am not superstitious, but I do not whistle for the sake of those who are. I keep my singing to a soft hum for the sake of off-duty watch-keepers trying to catch sleep in their bunks.
So by the time I discovered the ship's guitar, I was music-hungry. I eagerly closed the crew's-lounge doors and opened the case. A quiet strum, and then I tentatively placed my fingers through the chords and picking my Mom taught me in guitar club. A root. A fourth. A fifth. Simple but so satisfying. And just enough to put together accompaniment for the songs in my heart.
It was a delight to find the guitar perfectly in tune (at least to my ear). Instruments go out of tune quickly if a peg slips, but most often they lose pitch gradually, just a little each day until they are obviously and awfully out of tune. I think someone on the crew must be giving this guitar regular attention.
I told one of my girlfriends about my discovery. I was talking on the phone with her while off-watch, the ship bobbing at buoy work in the Strait of Georgia. We chatted about the parallel to living in the ship environment, or really in any isolating environment. The practice of Bible reading and prayer keeps my heart tuned to God. On any particular day it does not seem like much but it keeps my hearts strings from gradually slipping out of tune.
So if you feel yourself in the middle of a "sea," far from friends and family, far from the things that usually feed your soul, please be encouraged with me. God hears the music of our hearts, in fact, He puts music there and He delights in us. My prayer is the line from one of my favorite hymns, "Tune my heart to sing Thy praise." May we be faithful, little-by-little and day-by-day, to be in-tune instruments for Him.
Now all this being said, time for me to read my Bible and journal a few thoughts before I run up the ship's stairs to the bridge to be on watch again.
Zephaniah 3:17
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a might one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”
Colossians 3:16
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, signing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. “
Psalm 40:3
“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.”
John 4:23
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.”
Galatians 5:25
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”