Tuning Your Life

Many moons ago I owned a piano.  I remember hiring a piano tuner who came equipped with a velvet roll tied with a ribbon.  Once untied the roll contained a variety of tuning forks.

Now a tuning fork is an acoustic resonator used to produce a fixed tone.  Unlike many resonators, the sound a tuning fork makes is very pure.

It was interesting to watch as the piano tuner would remove a fork from the roll - hit it on his knee, and then adjust the stings of the piano so they matched the tone the fork was producing..

I no longer own the piano, however, in my last night prayers I asked God to prompt my brain for an idea for the blog this morning, and then I went to bed thinking about tuning forks...

You see, as we spend repeated time in our culture and in the day to day of our lives, it is easy for us to get "out of tune".  It is easy for the things of this world to start influencing how we think and how we feel.  And, just like a piano, the further out of tune we get, the harder it is to tune us.

So how do we stay in tune?  What are some of the "tuning forks" we can use?

First and foremost - the Bible.  We must spend time reading God's word - for without it, the world can be a confusing and overwhelming place. "Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually." - 1 Chronicles 16:11

Next we must find good and trustworthy mentors who are God-fearing and who love the Lord.  These are the people with whom we should bounce ideas off of, and test our suppositions against..  "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17

Finally, we must spend time in prayer.  And just like Samuel, we must ask God to speak into our lives, and to be quiet as we listen for an answer.  "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." - 1 Samuel 3:10

The interesting thing about tuning forks is that when two tuning forks are tuned to the same frequency, they harmonize with one other.  More than that, when one is vibrating, the other will begin to vibrate.  However, in order for this to happen, the turning forks must be close to each other, AND one of the tuning forks must initially be quiet (not already vibrating).

When we "tune in" to God by reading the Bible regularly, adopting good mentors, and praying diligently, our lives will begin to resonate with Him, and we will begin to produce the pure tone He wants for our lives, rather than the distorted one the world is humming.