The Piano Gift

As soon as I heard that Immerse’s drop-in center was being renovated and that everything inside it needed to be moved out, I sent a text message to the man in charge. 

“Is that upright piano still in the drop-in center? And has anyone claimed it? If it has to be moved somewhere, I would love for it to find a home in my apartment during the renovation!” 

I didn’t really hear back anything definitively over the next few days, so I figured the old piano had been accounted for. Oh well, it was worth the ask anyway. 

I proceeded to have an absolutely lousy week. Things were rough all around - work was stressful, happenings at Immerse and around my apartments were stressful, a few of my relationships were tense and stressful, and my health and sleep patterns were suffering...which was stressful. It was just one of those weeks that everything was going poorly, which sometimes unnecessarily translates into “I am doing poorly at everything.” 

But we are to be faithful even when we are not fruitful. Every crop must be waited on. 

The following Saturday morning, according to our weekly waffle breakfast tradition, I cooked waffles while my friends and Immerse youth gathered in my apartment to eat and share stories from the week, to be together and to linger. As I listened to a conversation across the room, I heard someone talking about moving all of the furniture out of the drop-in center. “...And Ashli’s getting the piano...”

I popped my head out of the kitchen real quick. “What did you say?!” I burst out with surprise, delight, and a hint of too-good-to-be-true disbelief. 

“Yeah, I was in the drop-in center the other day and that old upright piano has a sticky note with your name on it.” When I heard that, I could have dropped dead I was so happy. It literally had my name on it. 

On Monday, I got the official phone call to come and pick up the piano, and on Tuesday four of my finest friends gave up an hour of their time to haul a heavy piano onto a trailer and then up the stairs into my apartment and right into my very bedroom. 

There is a verse at the end of Psalm 107 that I love, especially in French. When literally translated from the French version, it reads, “Be attentive to the kindnesses of God.” 

God is so kind. The best gift-givers give gifts that you love, but would never buy for yourself. God is like that — the best gift-giver. He saw me in the middle of my awful week. He saw my discouragement and disappointment. And he knows me. He knows what I love and what I need. He knew I needed a pick-me-up, an act of love, and he sent me one in the form of an old upright piano and four kind, strong friends to help lift what was too heavy for me on my own. 

After most everyone left, one of my kind, strong friends lingered. He played a little, I played a little. We thanked God together, and then he prayed, blessing the piano to be used as an instrument of worship and a place of gathering, and inviting God to bring music and joy and Christ into this apartment and this neighborhood. 

That changed nothing about the circumstances of my awful week, and yet it changed everything about my perspective and attitude towards it. 

Be attentive to the kindnesses of God. And be faithful even while you are still waiting for the fruit.