15 minutes at the piano

This month I’ve committed to practicing the piano 15 minutes a day to learn Claire de Lune. The past week I had to force myself each day to sit at the piano and play D-flat scales and struggle through the 5-flat chords of the piece. Each time I plop down on the wooden bench, I play the same bars I perfected the day before and yet they aren’t perfected anymore. So I practice them again and again and move on to the next few bars. As I sit there, I become agitated and bang my forehead down on the piano and grumble to myself between mistakes. Progress isn’t visible; success isn’t attainable.

When the time is up, I gather up the loose sheets of music and the chord book and shuffle back to my room. And as I think about it, I realize that I can play a whole sheet and half of the music – even with flaws and bumbles. I couldn’t do that a week ago… My fingers begin to know where the flats are, they begin to remember which chord comes next, and my hands begin to work in harmony. Less than 30 minutes a day.

Discipline is an interesting thing. Discipline doesn’t always imply rigor, but rather priority. All of life can be lived under the simple premise of discipline – properly aligning priorities and living such that your life reflects them. If 15 minutes a day of practicing the piano can bring knowledge to even the muscles in my fingers, I wonder what 15 minutes a day in God’s word could do to my heart and mind? 15 minutes at the piano shapes my mind, and it shapes the actions of my arms and fingers as they move across the keys. Maybe 15 minutes with Jesus can shape my mind and the actions of my hands and feet as I walk across campus? Maybe 15 minutes can shape my mouth and my tongue affecting the words that exit?

And maybe tomorrow I’ll have to relearn the things I practiced today, but in a week, a month, a year, perhaps I’ll be able to play the whole song?