God Fills Us With Life

Have you had a look at the DC Display this last week or so? 

I’ve put out a few of my musical resources for people to look at as they move through the splendid DC building. The instruments are variously shiny, wooden, bamboo, plastic, metal, painted, lacquered, solid or lightweight objects. There is even a piston from a truck motor, courtesy of the Automotive Department that makes a great sound for a song about robots ruling the world. 

Alongside the familiar wind, string and percussion instruments, there are some more exotic ones: a set of Balinese bamboo angklung, an African djembe, a genuine traditional yolgnu yidaki (didjeridu) from Yirrkala and another one my son cut and painted when we were in Daly River, with clapsticks made by a friend in Canberra for a celebration. 

Every instrument there has a story attached to it. Every instrument has been used to make music in some way or another. In the hands of a maestro, an instrument can make you laugh, cry, transport you to other worlds or secret places, make you change the world, bring people together, even scare them away. 

A boy in the Bible calmed a king’s psychotic episodes with music. Imagine having that power in your hands? These things of metal and wood, wrought by clever hands into music-making machines, are the tools we use to scratch the surface of the infinite, to bring peace, joy, comfort, beauty, passion and worship. 

However, without the musician breathing life into the instrument, it’s just a piece of metal, wood or membrane. God fills us with life and has uniquely gifted each of us to produce love, creativity and passion: we are tasked with the responsibility to share those gifts with those around us, as the need arises, at school, at home, on the bus, at sport, at church, at Bunnings, freely offering our gift to make the world a better place, one moment at a time. Percussion, piano or piccolo, our time will come. 

In our unique ways, let’s be ready to do small things, amazing things, as the Spirit breathes life through us into our small corner. Jesus told us that He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). It can take years of dedication to play an instrument well. Every one of us has a lifetime to practise listening to God’s voice, 

The display will be gone in a few days, but the opportunities to bring life will be there every day.