It's okay to not always be right.

So I've been working on accompanying my little brother for his Suzuki Book 2 violin recital that's coming up. (If you're an ancient blog reader of mine, you might remember his Book 1 recital...this one's not near as extravagant. =P )

And between speech, debate, geometry, piano, flute, awana, teaching, and general life-busyness, I ::cough:: haven't had a generous amount of time to practice the accompaniment part.

Having played piano for 12 years helps, but I'm still a little shaky, and the thing is tomorrow.

But if you've ever accompanied someone, you know it's not about hitting all the right notes, but it's about making the performer look good. If you miss a trill or the middle note of that chord, it's okay.

(being a classical pianist, it's hard to wrap your mind around....trust me, there's a difference.)

What you don't want to do is get off sync with your performer - staying with them is really important. If I'm always trying to get the right notes, I'm putting the focus on myself.

But as an accompanist, my job is not to draw attention to myself but to magnify the performer and make them look good.

The question is not "did I get all the notes right?" but "did I fulfill my job as accompanist?"

And I was thinking how that's true of life as well.

See, it doesn't really matter if we do everything right all the time, if we hit everything spot on and play every single note. What matters is that we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus constantly -that we are fulfilling the purpose He's given us and giving the glory to Him.

If we don't always get everything done that we wanted, or the day didn't go quite right, or we didn't react in the best way possible - it's okay. What matters is that I stay in sync with God.

When I try to look good, dress right, and worry so much about how everything is going wrong - I'm worrying about myself - and not giving glory to God.

It's not about me playing the right notes - it's about being a good accompanist.