For the last couple weeks, I’ve been showing my five-year-old Josiah a few basics on the piano. Basically using three fingers starting on middle C… I still think he’s too young for formal lessons, but it’s been fun to see him picking up some things at such a young age.

This morning we had an interaction that reminded me a lot about life.

A few weeks back, I decided to resurrect some Scott Joplin material, so I’ve been practicing “The Maple Leaf Rag” here and there when I have a few moments. I’ve gotten it to where it sounds great, and it’s a lot of fun to play. It’s one of those classics that most people would recognize if they heard it. Not the easiest song, but of course practice delivers results, right?

Well, this morning I sat down with Josiah to have him play his 3-note scale and he did so well that I added fingers 4 and 5 as well, so now he can play a 5-note scale up and back down. He picked it up quick! I asked him to practice three times - and I welled up with excitement as I saw him negotiating his fingers on each key. He did it perfectly the first time! So, I said to him “Ok, two more times, Jo-Jo.” His next comment floored me, and I knew we were moving into a teachable moment.

Sitting on the piano bench, he turned around to me and said, “Now I wanna do some hard stuff, dad.”

I said, “What hard stuff?” and he said “The song you were just playing. Show me what to play, and I’ll play it.”

I got down on my knees and looked him in the eye and said “Josiah, you have to learn the easy stuff first and keep working on it before you can learn to play the hard stuff.” His eyes deflated, and he leaned his head down on the piano keys and said “But Dad, I really want to play the hard stuff.” So we spent the next couple minutes talking about how Daddy needed to work hard for years on the “easy stuff” before he could ever start to play the “hard stuff.” He wasn’t too excited about that prospect in that moment, so he jumped off the piano bench and went back to playing with his rubber crocodile.

It reminded me of life and growing to maturity in Christ… I’ll let you make the connection as it relates to you personally…