Change, Advent and Christmas – Day 4

There is this often told story of a famous tenor who once, many years ago, was invited to sing in the La Scala Opera House in Italy. When he’d finished his aria, the audience went crazy: “Encore! Encore!” they screamed and shouted. The tenor, so overcome by the ovation, sang it again. And again, and yet again. At last he said: “Thank you, thank you for your appreciation, but I cannot sing it another time.”

So one man in the audience got up and said: “Mr X, you will sing-a it, until-a you sing-a it right!”

Sometimes, it’s the same with us. We despair at our inability to get it right, no matter how hard we try. Are we doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again! Why can’t we get it right!

Take heart. There is the other story about the two old guys in the retirement home who, after their evening devotions, sang a hymn at the top of their voices, but completely off key. The neighbours eventually asked them to stop their singing, which they did. One night, two angels knocked on their door and said: “Why have you stopped singing?” “Oh,” they said, “the neighbours said they couldn’t take it any longer, so we stopped.” “But didn’t you know,” the angel said, “that a host of angels was hovering above the ceiling every evening to take your off key notes and turn them into heavenly tones, perfectly tuned for God’s ears.”

In the same way, God sends his angels to transform us in our human endeavours and weaknesses, until God’s voice in us ripens to a song and swells to a heavenly symphony, praising him with each note in perfect pitch and harmony.