June 25, 2024
By Kirsten Nicole
Have you ever noticed how the Lord uses those everyday moments to teach you about His character?
Enter violin student.
I was teaching a lesson on a slow Tuesday afternoon, a song that I've taught students hundreds of times. Most of my students are beginner level, which includes so many minute details of posture and presentation and not a whole lot of "playing beautiful music." While this makes teaching relatively stress-free (since I'm very familiar with the songs and necessary skills) it can also make lessons very repetitive.
Higher third finger.
Lower first finger.
Clean string crossing.
Open violin hand.
Curve bow hold fingers.
Don't squeeze your thumb.
Stay in the middle of the bow.
Keep your head straight.
Violin flat.
Feet set apart for strong stance, but not leaning on one leg over the other....
Rinse and repeat for the next student.
As I assess and teach, I'm looking at all of these corrections for the beginner violinist. They're natural struggles. VERY natural. Violin is not an easy or intuitive instrument, and there are so many things going on at once for an intro student.
And while I know the many adjustments necessary for a student to improve, I can't give them the entire above list and expect them to apply all at once. I can't even give them five things to work on at one time.
Often it is two...maybe even one focus point at a time.
We drill and drill and drill until they are consistent and comfortable with that item, and then I add another, careful to remind them of what we have just drilled. Usually, however, as they focus on the next task, they forget the drilling they've just done and revert back to the former way of holding their hand or squeezing their thumb etc etc.
So, we go back, and drill the first. Then, we move on again, dancing back and forth between two improvements. Sometimes they don't nail the two tasks by the end of the lesson. Sometimes (especially during the summer), they don't practice the things we've drilled from one week to the next, and the following week, we are working on the same skills. Again.
But of course, that's how I was as a student too. :) And bless my teacher for her patience with me over the years.
As I was working with my student on the repetitive drilling of a particular skill, I realized all the times the Lord has done exactly the same with me.
He knows, far beyond my knowledge, the millions of improvements I need to become more like Christ. While the justification is instantaneous, the sanctification is continuous (Philippians 2:12), and He knows all the changes that need to be made to make me perfectly like Him.
But He doesn't give me all those corrections at once. I am fairly certain that if He did, I would spiral into hopelessness and depression over the vast and endless ways I need to change to be more Christ-like. It would be overwhelming and discouraging to say the least. Just like giving my student all the ways they need to improve would be discouraging.
Instead, the Holy Spirit convicts me of an area of growth. He prods, reminds, convicts, corrects. Patiently. Repetitively. Lovingly. And then He reveals another area of sin. Does that mean the former will never be a struggle again? Nope. He'll return to it. Correct. But hopefully, every time, it becomes less frequent. It takes less drilling.
He is such a patient teacher, methodically working through sins in my life. Working. Reworking. Revealing. Revisiting.
And I love that He takes the time to teach me through teaching, taking the skill that I understand and love and using that as a way to soften and mold my heart. I love that He tailors our sanctification processes to us. There is no one-size-fits-all way to teach many violin students the exact same skill. For some students, it takes games and action; for others, it takes writing it out and creating a picture; for others, it requires excessive drilling.
He tailors our sanctification journeys, condescends in ways that we, the stubborn students, can understand and will learn from best, always through Bible-reading and prayer, and sometimes through object lessons in Creation. He did this with the disciples, encouraging the fishermen to be "fishers" of men.
This steady process of sanctification is arduous, but Jesus is such a patient shepherd and the greatest teacher! I pray that I can model His patient teaching in the repetition of my own teaching.
How has the Lord used your profession to teach you spiritual lessons?
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