Time For a Tuning?

We had our piano tuned today. Piano manufacturers recommend pianos be tuned once a year, but since ours doesn't get played that much we usually tune ours every 2-3 years. I watched the technician while he worked this afternoon; it's actually pretty neat to watch. He did a lot of the tuning by ear (he has trained himself to do this), but he also uses a Palm device with some special piano tuning software. The industry has come a long way since the days of tuning forks! Watching him work, a couple of things jumped out at me.

First - even though the piano sounded fine to me before he came, it was definitely out of tune. The technician demonstrated just how far out of tune some of the notes were for me using his Palm device. And when he got the piano completely tuned it sounded ten times better. Even if you have a decent ear for music, your ears can fool you, or rather your brain can. What happens is our brains subconsciously compensate so the notes that are off-key sound fine.

Second - I noticed that all the man tuning the piano really needed was one note that he knew was right, then using that one in-tune note he could tune the rest of the notes relative to it. In piano tuner parlance this note is called the "reference note." Get that one note right, then tune the rest of the notes in relation to it, and you've got yourself a tuned piano.

There's a great analogy for life in this. In our lives it's easy to get "out of tune." Unfortunately it just happens over the course of time. What's more, we have a multitude of ways to overlook those parts of our lives that are out of tune. We rationalize, we explain away, we ignore, or we turn a blind eye (or perhaps a deaf ear would be a better way to put it). "Seems fine to me," we say, "what do you mean this, or that, is a problem?" Staying in tune takes discipline and even then still requires an occasional technician to come in to tighten or lengthen our "strings." That person could be a pastor, a Bible Study leader or other trusted Christian friend.

Given that we will need to be tuned from time to time, we also need a "reference note" for our lives; one note that we are confident beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's accurate and in tune. Once we have that we can tune the rest of our life relative to that one note and we'll know we're in tune. For many believers this authoritative note is the Bible. Picture a room  with a piano in it. Seated around the piano are three piano technicians. The first one is named "culture" and he has definite opinions about what he thinks the reference note should sound like. He's not afraid of sharing his opinion about it either! Seated next to Culture is someone named "Peer." Our peers have even more influence on us than culture does. Sometimes culture and our peers are at odds, other times they totally reinforce one another. The final person in the room is named "Logos" - the Word of God. Granted, people interpret what Logos says many different ways, which tends to open up a can of worms at times, but on most issues the Bible is crystal clear: this is right and that is wrong. It goes without saying that these three, culture, our peers, and the Word of God are often at odds. If each had a tuning wrench in our imaginary room you'd hear that note going up and down, back and forth. My point is, eventually you have to decide which one is correct - what your "reference note" is going to sound like.

Our piano sounds great now - and I know it is in tune. I may not be able to play any better than I did this morning before the piano tuner came, but at least I know when I hit an "A" an "A" is what I'll get. How about you? Is it about time for you to be tuned? And if you decide to get in tune, what will your reference note be?