Written Thursday, Feb 24 before choir practice...

My most intimate times with God are here.

Rehearsal is in a few hours.

Somehow I find myself in the auditorium all alone.

A single light beams from the rafters onstage, illuminating the only thing on stage.

The beautiful grand piano.

Ah, yes, God. You've given me yet another treasured moment with you! This is my most precious and favorite of times. And the moment is always unexpected.

My sacred space.

I walk on stage, boots clip clop, and my coat slung over my purse which shuffles on the ground. I set my things on the top of the grand.

Silence.

Then.

D chord, always with a fourth on the right hand. Sustain pedal. Then... G chord.

Then, a song.

I play and sing. Every note and word uttered as a prayer. God, this one's for you. Only you.

Sometimes it's a song of surrender. Tears normally follow.

Other times it's a song of conviction. Declaring who God is.

Other times it's a prayerful song of not knowing what to pray for. And that's okay.

I treasure these silent, intimate, unplanned moments with my Maker. I'm elated every time I stumble into it. Like it’s a secret no one else knows about.

I pray when I'm 80, God will still surprise me with a piano in some empty room.

And that room will become a sanctuary.