Lucille's

A piano story

   ….to the tune of.....

 ‘God loves to surprise us.’

 

Did you ever want something so badly and couldn’t think how in the world you were ever going to acquire it?

Well for me it was a piano.

 I spent my childhood and teen years pouring over the keyboard, emoting the classics and then the songs of the church. Sadness and joy erupted on those ivories. It was my go-to place for solace and expression.

Years later my daughter showed some interest in learning to play, and even though the idea of a piano was out of the question for a just-surviving single Mom, somehow I knew that God would grant this desire of my heart. (Unlike today, where people leave perfectly good pianos curbside, or post them for free on Craigslist, we actually had to purchase them. I wonder if someday they will prove valuable again)

I prayed. 

It was fall oozing into winter. I wondered what extra I could do to earn money. My thoughts went to making gingerbread houses to sell as that was something I had always done for my kids. I had made elaborate ones….a 2-storey dollhouse embellished with rose-strewn wallpaper made from frosting and furnished with gingerbread furniture and lit up for Christmas, and office buildings, and circus trains and mail boxes stuffed with Christmas cards. But they took days to make…. No one could ever pay me for the time it took.

Then I had an idea. 

(or did that idea come from somewhere else?????)

What if I made little individual houses, so each child in the family could have their own? I could market them as a little Christmas eve treat. I figured I could make 10 houses out of the same amount of dough as for one big one. I could make a pattern and create them assembly line fashion and even personalize them with specific candies to the child’s liking.

Well I started.

 ……up early every morning to make the dough, cut out the pieces and bake enough for 10 houses…all before going to work. At night, I assembled 10 houses, decorated 10 from the night before, and wrapped 10 from before that in cello. I took them to work, to craft fairs, even sold wholesale to a couple of gift stores. My sister-in-law Celeste had me make tiny white churches, with stained-glass windows and steeples to give out to each family at the Christmas Eve service at her church.

I was exhausted come December 23rd

 but $1200.00 richer. 

I had looked often in the paper but had been discouraged to see that all the pianos were quite expensive, a long way away and of recent vintage. In my mind’s eye, the piano would be an antique with rich dark wood…a little ornate.

It seemed like my dream of a piano for Christmas had been a bit ambitious. I sat down after supper that evening and picked up the local paper not really expecting to find anything. I was shocked to see a piano for sale for only

…..guess what??? 

Yes!

 $1200.00!!!

 And it was only 3 blocks away!

 I hurried over and when I saw the piano, I’m sure I gasped. 

It. was. the. one. in. my. head!!!!!

 And to top it off, it met a dire need of the couple who owned it. Two Christmases were blessed by this one piano! I hadn’t really thought of the logistics and cost of transporting it home, but I needn’t have worried because as it turns out, the owner's brother was a piano mover and the move was included in the price. (Of course it was!)

 Thank-you God!!!

I won’t soon forget the look on my children’s faces as that piano was rolled into our home on Christmas Eve, 

nor the amazing sense of excitement,

 gratefulness,

 joy

I experienced.

The piano is now gone these many years later. It was sold to provide for another need but it will always remain a concrete example to me of how God knows us intimately and as we are faithful to him, he often takes delights in surprising us with the desires of our hearts.

Chapter 2.

Recently, my sister-in-law passed away, and her boys have decided they want me to have her piano. I’m rusty, my fingers not nearly as nimble, but it comes back quickly and I’m anxious to rekindle that special relationship I had years ago with an inanimate piece of wood that sung my heart and soul and dreams and made beautiful music with just the touch of my hands.

Once again, I feel like a child …a child who is loved and valued, 

whose parent takes joy in fulfilling that impossible wish.

 I am secure and safe and blessed among God’s children.

It’s Christmas all over again!