There is a special kind of joy that comes when two different people love the same thing. Linda and I have a love for our children and grandchildren that no one else on earth shares, just as other grandparents have a unique love for their children and grandchildren. It's not that ours are any better than anyone else's (although of course, we know they are!), but they are OUR kids, and the bond we have is special because of that.
Last week, I drove to Grove City to pick up a new old bass, a 1936 King. It's beautiful curly maple sides and back, spruce top, none of which matters to anyone else except a player. Our granddaughter Abi has been taking electric bass lessons from me at our church's School of the Arts, and told me a few weeks ago that she will be playing the bass line for one of the numbers for her school's Christmas choral concert. I don't remember exactly how it all came about, but we had talked about the possibility of her learning and playing the upright bass for it. "That would be so cool!" was her response, accompanied by a huge smile.
So, after dinner today, I brought out both basses for a tone comparison. She played my original bass while I plucked away on my newest acquisition. It was only a small suggestion, but she grasped at it like a starving man at a morsel of bread. "Why don't you take this one home to practice? Maybe your instructor would let you use it for the concert." Another "That would be SO cool!" I didn't have to suggest twice.
Abi is her own person. She likes old cars and things that others might think a bit quirky. I think it is the artist in her. She took clarinet lessons for a year, but it didn't suit her. The bass however, seems to be her kind of instrument, which warms my heart.
I think God is the source of these kinds of connections, and that it warms his heart when his children love what he loves, just as happens to me when Abi loves the bass. And what does God love more than people? So much so that he tells us that the first commandment is for us to love him, and the second is to love others. John adds, "If we don't love our brother whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen?" And if my experience is any measure, just as when Abi loves the instrument I love, when we love what God loves, it deepens (if that is possible) God's love for us.
I was a triple winner today. Abi went home happy, toting a bass, I went home happy, because Linda did not want two basses in her house, and I learned something of the heart of God. It's been a good day, and I am thankful tonight.
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