Staying Tuned

I don’t know about your life, but my life tends to be like a violin string. Some days it is tuned correctly and makes beautiful music. Other days it squeaks and grates and makes a horrible screeching noise that I am tempted to shut my ears to. But the purpose of life is to make music not noise and so instead of shutting my ears (The temptation is to crawl back into bed and put the pillow over my head so I can’t hear!) I go about trying to tune the string.

What that entails is getting back in tune with the Spirit and letting it work through me to make music. As I start to tune, I often realize that the problem is that I’ve been trying to make music instead of simply staying in tune. That never works because I’m not a musician. The only way I can make music is by being the instrument I was created to be and letting the Musician play His music through me. Therefore when I concentrate on staying in tune instead of making music the music comes readily and easily.

The beauty of this is that it is so much easier to stay tuned than it is to make beautiful music. So why do I forget that fact and make myself miserable? That is an eternal question that does no good to ask. Instead, I just remember that when I am out of tune it only makes me more out of tune to berate myself for forgetting. Instead I use the time to recognize I am out of tune, retune myself, and move on realizing that the Atonement is what makes retuning possible. 

And then I enjoy the music.