From Lydia Butler:This song is a light in the darkness for a very solid reason for me. A few years ago, I had decided that at the end of the season, I’d drop out of the church choir. I was unhappy, and it just wasn’t fun for me anymore. It was just bad. I was firm in my decision when, at our parish annual meeting, the priest and the choir director announced their retirement. I was both startled and overjoyed: startled because I’m not good with change, and I was fond of the priest. I was filled with joy at the thought of a new choir director and organist.
As far as I could tell, God had just dropped a cosmic miracle in my lap. I began to pray. “Please, God” I began, “Send us a man. You and I both know that organ sounds better when a man is playing.” I prayed every night in earnest during the process of finding a new organist, leaving the specifics in the hands of the Almighty. Okay, I admit, I dropped hints along the way. The praying was no less earnest, though. Every night, same prayer: Send us a man, oh Lord. Please! After a few short weeks, the news came in that both candidates were male. I rejoiced, and I dropped more hints.
Long story short: on August 17, 2008, we installed our incredibly talented young organist on his birthday. His nine months as our organist were the happiest months I’d had since my involvement in the Diocese of Olympia in high school. Needless to say, I stayed on in choir for those nine months. In what could have been an incredibly dark time in my life, I prayed. My prayers were answered in a very real, understandable, and positive way. I am forever changed for the better because of those first months of earnest prayer, and for the many prayers that have followed.
As far as I could tell, God had just dropped a cosmic miracle in my lap. I began to pray. “Please, God” I began, “Send us a man. You and I both know that organ sounds better when a man is playing.” I prayed every night in earnest during the process of finding a new organist, leaving the specifics in the hands of the Almighty. Okay, I admit, I dropped hints along the way. The praying was no less earnest, though. Every night, same prayer: Send us a man, oh Lord. Please! After a few short weeks, the news came in that both candidates were male. I rejoiced, and I dropped more hints.
Long story short: on August 17, 2008, we installed our incredibly talented young organist on his birthday. His nine months as our organist were the happiest months I’d had since my involvement in the Diocese of Olympia in high school. Needless to say, I stayed on in choir for those nine months. In what could have been an incredibly dark time in my life, I prayed. My prayers were answered in a very real, understandable, and positive way. I am forever changed for the better because of those first months of earnest prayer, and for the many prayers that have followed.
“Fire and the Flood” reminds me to be mindful of the prayers I lift as I’m falling asleep, but to pray nonetheless. When I feel like I know better than God, I listen to “Fire and the Flood,” look for the angelic writing on the wall, and pray. What could be putting out my fire could flood someone else’s river.
Learn more about this daily Lenten devotional, created by Episcopal Young Adults of Western Washington.
