An oboe sabbatical

No oboe for 4 months. It had been an unplanned sabbatical. Now I faced the customarily unfun days of rebuilding embouchure muscles and aspects of breathing and hand position that tend to slip. Yet there was a greater gap about which I wondered. I never know quite where the Lord is taking this music. Would I sense His presence again? Would He use this instrument yet another time to reveal Himself? I’d been praying. I tried playing oboe alongside my husband on guitar, but the first few days fell flat. I could play for a longer time because my embouchure was strengthening, but I didn’t sense the Lord turning on a light bulb of ideas. But that very next day was different. As my husband noodled around on the guitar, I opened my oboe case and soaked my reed to join in, and we came upon a fresh creativity. The Lord was giving melodies I hadn’t imagined, and the vibrato through the horn carried a rich resonance that floated so fully into every ounce of my being. Altogether my heart shot forth a joyful adrenaline, and I loved the Lord for revealing new again.