LIstening for the Wa-Wa

I have listened for years to the sound of tuning guitar strings at my house. There are at least seven guitars at our house, not to mention the plethora of drums, brass horns other instruments that have ebbed and flowed through our door. The guitars are the constant, and I enjoy the giftedness of those who play this instrument. My husband, sons and others always tune their guitars before playing. The pluck-plucking of strings, the twisting of the little keys on the neck resulting in sharpening or flattening of notes. I confess to having been plenty annoyed at the noise made by tuning sometimes even in the middle of a song as the player’s ear became aware of a slight off- key sound that I just didn’t catch. Sometimes in my impatience, I would think, how picky can you be to stop a perfectly good song to tune yet again? Gee whiz, just finish the song!

One day recently Adam was tuning his instrument “harmonically” (hey, you can't live with guitar players for 30 years without picking a few things up) as I read the newspaper across the kitchen table from him, only half listening to his music. He was repetitively pluck-plucking at the strings, two at a time, and listening. Feeling annoyed that that my reading had been disturbed I asked, “What are you listening for? It all sounds the same to me!”

Adam patiently plucked one string, and then pressing a finger on the string just below it at a particular fret, plucked it too, and told me to listen to the vibration which he referred to, for my ignorant benefit, as the “wa-wa” that could be heard when one string was not in tune with the other. I listened, and, oh my goodness, I could hear it! There was a vibration between the two strings, a sort of “wa-wa” sound that was fast at first, then slowed and finally stopped as he brought the strings into perfect pitch with each other. He looked up and grinned at me. I smiled back. A light bulb moment! For the first time in 30 years of hearing guitars played, tuned, stroked and plucked, I had listened for something new, and it had been revealed to my ear.

Of course God took that teachable moment to speak to me. He said, in that voice of His, “This is what I want you to do with Me, with My Word. Listen for something new. Listen for the deeper meaning when I speak to you. Listen to the tuning of my instruments, and gain deeper understanding. Now you hear the surface sound and interpret it as clatter in your day. But listen, ever so carefully, so you can hear something new."

Are you hearing just the clatter, or are you tuned in? Are you willing to listen to old things in a new way so the Lord can reveal something wonderful? Are you hearing the ever so smooth hum when the “wa-wa” disappears and your heart is tuned to what God has for you? Today, open your heart and mind to the possibilities. Hear the perfect notes that the Lord plays. Listen for the “wa-wa”. It is extraordinary!