A Beautiful Duet

We would like to give a special thank you to one of our fr-amily members, Mrs. Linda Strickland, for taking a moment to share her words of encouragement in her guest blog for us today. After more than 40 years of marriage, you can imagine the amount of wisdom she has to share on the topic. We love listening to her stories filled with nuggets of wisdom, and we hope that you will as well.

There is a wonderful story about the great concert pianist Paderewski. One evening a mother took her young son (who had just begun piano lessons) to hear this master play.  The stage was set simply, with a spotlight highlighting the beautiful grand piano and bench.  The mother and her young son found their seats and were anxiously waiting for the concert to begin.  As they waited, the mother became engaged in conversation with the person seated next to her and did not realize that her son had gotten out of his seat.  Just as she noticed his absence, “chopsticks” filled the air of the great hall.

Horrified, the mother saw her missing young son on the stage, in the spotlight, seated at the grand piano, smiling as he picked out the tune.  “Get him out of there!” came voices from the crowd.

“No!” cried a European accent from the wings, and the great Paderewski strode on stage.  “Boy, keep going and I’ll help you” he said. As he sat down on the bench next to the little boy he began adding fabulous improvisations – chords, patterns, runs and additional melodies – as the two of them captivated the audience with variations of “chopsticks” in duet.

Photo by Dolo Iglesias

All through history there have been many great duets: Lewis and Clark, Rogers and Hammerstein, Abbott and Costello, George and Gracie, Sonny and Cher, Fred and Ethel, well – you get the picture.  Jesus demonstrated the value of partnership as well when he sent his disciples out into the world two by two (Mark 6:7).  He knew they would need each other.  He knew what they would face, and that ‘two would be better than one.’

Photo by Chad Madden

King Solomon wrote about this in the book of Ecclesiastes (4:9-12) when he said “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their work: if one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!  Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three is not quickly broken!”

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My husband and I have claimed this particular scripture as our life verse for our marriage.  We have found that, although two people make a marriage, inviting the Holy Spirit to be the third strand of the cord is what makes it work.  Believe me, we’ve tried it both ways, and as the old saying goes – the proof of the pudding is in the eating!

For most people, life is made up of many seasons and changes.  One season may find you with people in your life that you can truly call partners; people who make harmony with you in the duet of life.  At other times you may experience a season of living and working solo.  But for each of us, as believers and followers of Christ, we always have a partner: The Holy Spirit. He is the constant living and active presence of Jesus in our lives, and when we invite Him to come and sit down beside us, together we make a beautiful duet.

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I pray that whether you are singing life in duet or solo, you will always invite the Holy Spirit to partner with you in everything that you do.  And in the words of Paderewski, you will hear the Spirit say, “Keep going and I’ll help you.”
 
Now that’s a beautiful duet!

Blessings to you,
Linda Strickland