Thursday, March 26, 2009

grace notes

Mckenzie is working on a piano piece for the upcoming spring concert. This is a trickier piece than she normally plays and it has grace notes incorporated into it. When her piano teacher started instructing her on grace notes, my ears perked up. A grace note is an additional note added to the music as an ornament. They are written smaller than the 'regular' notes. (I'm not a musician...hang in there with my layman's terms) Grace notes are to be played separately from the 'regular' notes so that the ear can hear them. I've been thinking about those grace notes ever since we left piano lessons last night. I think we all have grace notes sprinkled through out our day. Ultimately, grace is God's gift to us...it's more than we could ever deserve. Grace notes are the ornaments in our day that pop up unexpectedly;they are the special notes placed in our lives by God. They might not always be easily seen. When Mckenzie plays her piece I really have to listen for the grace notes, they are seamlessly worked into her piece and they could easily be missed by the untrained ear. But when I listen for them, they are delightful. I believe that if I train my ear to listen for the grace notes in life, I'll be blessed and delighted. But I have to be listening for them. That's just what I plan to do today. I hope your day will echo with Grace notes as well.
"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion." Isaiah 30:18

8 comments:

Christina said...

Wow! I've been playing grace notes for years and never thought of them that way. Thanks for the encouragement.

Btw, in answer to your question, keeping six strands of yarn together takes attention but is not difficult.

The WoodLand School said...

What a beautiful post! I'll keep grace notes in my mind throughout the day : )

Anonymous said...

spencer says ... those grace notes are small, and you can probably put a lot of them in the music. but God can put more grace notes in our life than you could put in the music.
uncle mark says ... i smiled from the moment i saw z's name to the time i saw her picture. what beautiful insight, inspired by a beautiful young woman. i can so relate and appreciate your trained ear concept. in the discipline of each lenten 6am morning, my ear is becoming more trained to hear those grace notes in my life, and the lives of others around me. but there is no doubt that i can also very easily become satisfied in the song, but not tuned in to hear each unique and melodic grace note. you can tuna fish, and you can tuna ear.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful post. :)

Kristyn Knits said...

this post was a wonderful grace note to start my trip! sorry I missed it yesterday...just not enough time this week. love you!

larissa said...

thank you for this beautiful post. it's so nice to be reminded to pay closer attention to all the grace notes in our day.

Journeying Five said...

i have never heard of grace notes, that is a very cool analogy...need to listen for them in my day to day.

From All Stitched Up said...

I'm going to be listening today! Thanks for the grace.