Fall Forward

Dear Anna,
This is a piece that I read about a a piano lesson of a little girl named Hope. I thought about it today in light of our conversation last night...  and also here's some spring hope for you on this mid-February day:

"So you forgot some notes! Fear and old habits and people pressure and your own interior playlist can do that --- to all of us. But! When the piece started to fall apart?

You fell forward, Hope. You didn't fret about the music behind you --- you focused on the next bar."

Hope had nodded slowly, like a dawning, smiling.

The adjudicator looked down the row of girls and budding pianists and said it with this steady beat.

"We are all going to botch it somedays. We all sometimes get the notes wrong. But the song only goes wrong when we keep thinking back to the wrong notes."

"When a piece starts to fall apart --- fall forward. Fall forward into the next bar. Moving forward is what makes music."

And I sit there at the end of the year, on the end of the bed before the sock drawer with a lapful of holey, mismatched socks, and I can hear it, these notes that I might wear like a habit ---

Failing? What feels likes failing is really gaining experience. Keep moving Forward!

Falling apart? Fall forward into His arms --- falling forward is the only way you make music. Keep moving Forward!

Fearful? Fear is always the first step of faith. Keep moving Forward! 

Whenever you are lost, forward is always the way Home." -Ann Voskamp