Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Playing the Piano

Episode Transcription

I had the most Spirit-blessed, heaven-sent dream the other night.  It was an honest-to-goodness dream about heaven… and in the dream, I was on my feet… I wasn’t in a wheelchair.  I don’t have those sorts of dreams often, but when I do, it’s a delight. 

Actually, I had been reading in the book of Revelation, the part about God wiping away our tears.  I had been thinking about that marvelous thought that, one day, it will be God’s responsibility, not my friends’, not my husband’s, not the angels’, it won’t even be my responsibility… it will be God’s pleasure to wipe away my tears.  Anyway, in this dream, I was sitting at my old piano –the same old black baby grand piano in my parent’s living room.  Before my accident in 1967 in which I became paralyzed, I had taken ten years of piano lessons on that old thing; and unlike some kids who hate taking piano, I loved it!

Anyway, back to the dream:  I couldn’t see myself sitting on the piano bench, all I could see were my hands.  And in my dream I was watching myself playing a piece by Schumann... a favorite of mine called “Romanze.”  It is the most lovely piece he did for the piano.  And the amazing thing was, I knew that as I was playing that it had been years since my accident… and I wondered as I was sitting there watching myself play, “How am I able to remember this?  It’s been ages since I’ve played this thing!” 

But the miracle in my dream was that my hands and fingers had memorized all the movements on the keys, all the chords, all the runs, where one bar of music led to the next.  My fingers knew it all and I just sat there, playing and smiling… it was so delightful. 

I woke up astounded and I wondered immediately if, in fact, those were the correct notes and chords for that piece in my dream.  Somehow, I wouldn’t put it past my brain to remember it all.  It’s a little like memorizing Scripture, isn’t it, or, maybe an old hymn?  You commit it to memory, practice it by heart, over and over, and just when you think you’ve forgotten it, there it pops up. 

Oh, friend, heaven will be wonderful.  The sights, the sounds, the people, the things we’ll do, the places we’ll explore, the kingdom we’ll rule, the fun things we’ll learn, the joy of being with our God, the happy-hearted praise we’ll give our Savior, the angels, the heavenly hosts, all the wonderful music... and, if you have not heard Schumann’s “Romanze,” believe me, you’ll hear it in heaven: after all, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights and that particular piano piece is one good and perfect melody.

Spend a little time meditating on heaven today and tonight. Who knows? You’ll probably have very sweet dreams.

 

 

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JONI AND FRIENDS

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