Thankful Thursday
Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. (Psalm 150)

I am thankful for my daughter's piano teacher. Mrs. R. is our church's organist and choirmaster and regularly puts on cantatas and huge musical productions. She's gifted musically, and she has such a sweet spirit - she is always cheerful and pleasant to be around and she's such an encourager. My daughter only started taking piano this fall and I'm sure much of the reason she's progressed so quickly is Mrs. R.'s encouragement.

I'm thankful for my own piano teacher, Mrs. McG., who taught me when I was in high school, for many of the reasons listed above - she was an encourager, which is what I needed most then. Though I would never take the trouble of practicing she's the reason I'm able to play hymns for my family to sing along with.

I'm so thankful for my mom, another gifted church musician. When I was a little girl, my mom would play the piano for us after we went to bed, and her influence is why I love music so much. She has been the organist at her church for the past several years, playing at two services each Sunday. Oh, and when I say "gifted" I'm not just being polite. I mentioned in relation to Mike's retirement ceremony that we were unable to hire the musicians we'd hoped to, so I told Mike, "Don't worry about it, I'll ask my mom to play." Well, silly me, I forgot to ask her. On the day of his retirement, about two hours before we left, I suddenly remembered. "Oh! Mom, we need to play 'Off We Go Into the Wild, Blue Yonder,' and 'The Star Spangled Banner.'" "Sure thing," she replied, or words to that effect, and pulled it off marvelously, without music or practicing or anything.