Stumbling Fingers: Consecrating Your Imperfect Talent

This morning I did something new and brave: I played the piano in a church meeting. One of the organizers of the meeting asked me to be in charge of the music, and he seemed to think that I could play the piano. Well, maybe I could.

When I told Marisa what I was going to do, she gave me that look she gives me sometimes. It was the same look she gave when I was preparing to go to work with a lumbar puncture headache. “You’re doing this so that you don’t have to make a phone call.” she said.

“Yes, but not only that,” I said. “I think it’s the next step for me. I’m right at the threshold of being able to do this, and I need a nudge to push me over the edge.”

This was mid-day on Saturday, so I chose a couple of easy songs and practiced a lot through the afternoon. I even got my family to sing while I played. This morning I arrived early for the meeting to practice some more.

My performance was … passable. Anyone with ears to hear could tell that I had no business being at the piano, but I managed to pound out the songs well enough that it was probably a little better than not having a pianist. I think I know how Moroni felt as he struggled to express himself in an unfamiliar language:

“And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.

“And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record” (Mormon 9:32-33).

If I had played those songs on the guitar, there would have been no playing errors, but on the piano I stumbled over the placement of my fingers. It is good to be humbled from time to time.

A few years ago I was serving in a bishopric and was given the assignment to extend a calling to a sister in our ward. She nearly fell out of her chair when I asked her to serve as the Primary pianist. She said, “You do know that I can’t play the piano, right?”

She was pretty good on the fiddle — I had heard her play violin solos — but maybe her keyboard skills weren’t up to snuff. I started to worry that we were asking her to do something she couldn’t do.

But then her husband spoke up. “Oh, yes you can,” he said to her. “You’re better than you think you are.”

There was a bit of back-and-forth for a minute as this good woman and her husband talked themselves into accepting the calling. I promised her that the Lord would bless her and increase her skills as she consecrated her time and talents to the Lord.

I visited the Primary frequently and heard this sister struggle through singing time. The first time she accompanied the children singing in sacrament meeting she played about as well as I did in my meeting this week. How I prayed for her that day!

This woman did not give up. Determined, intrepid, and stubborn as anything, she kept at it month by month. She was the Primary pianist for over two years. Gradually over time her skills improved. Her confidence increased and her frustration levels reduced. She didn’t become a master of the keys, but she was good enough. It was remarkable to witness.

When I extended the release from this calling she told me how grateful she was for the challenge. Her children had witnessed her struggling and never giving up. During those two years her family was blessed, miraculously, in many ways.

I thought of my friend, this good sister, as my fingers stumbled over the keyboard this morning. It is good to be brave. We should all try new things. The Lord will help us to develop the skills we need to do whatever work he calls us to do. Our awkward and embarrassing first efforts are how we show that we are willing to let God prevail in our lives.

“Remember that this work is not yours and mine alone. It is the Lord’s work, and when we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies” (Thomas S. Monson, April 1996)

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Alan B. Sanderson, MD is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is a practicing neurologist.