Piano with Jana is one of my favorite ways to pass an hour. It happens every Tuesday afternoon at my mom’s living center.

Jana’s been leading this hymn singing for a few years now. She remembers my dad sang with gusto and complained about the piano being out of tune. She also remembers her regulars’ favorite hymns and makes sure they get to sing them.

Next week she’s going to bring out a different hymnal so my mom can sing, This World is Not My Home. She loves that one.

Predictable Senior Moments

The musical afternoons are pretty predictable.

When we walk in, my mom always asks everyone if they’ve met her daughter (that’s me). Then she says, “Isn’t she pretty?” fully expecting their affirmative responses. I’m a words-of-affirmation gal, so I don’t mind this repetition.

Jana always asks for requests, calls out a hymn number, and helps everyone find it in their books. Someone invariably comments that they don’t know this one. But when Jana starts to play, everyone sits back, eyes closed, and sings every word by heart.

Except for the third verse. No one knows that one because most music directors go straight from verse two to verse four. Mrs. Jana never skips it. I guess when we get older, we have time to sing the third verses.

Mom always comments that the songbook is confusing and hard to read. She’s forgotten how sing through all the first lines, then all the second lines, and so on. I’m happy to trace my finger along the appropriate line for her, though, because I remember her doing that for me on Sunday nights when I was a child. Mom kept watch from the choir loft on Sunday mornings, so I was on my own with the hymnbook. But on Sunday nights, she sat beside me and guided me through–line by line. The day I learned to follow a verse on my own is vividly etched in my childhood memories!

We always close out singing with Jana with “Victory in Jesus,” and the man who wheels his wife down for the singing shouts out each occurrence of the word “Victory!”

I cherish these moments. Their predictability is reassuring somehow.

Surprising Moments

But sometimes I’m surprised.

This week, we stayed after the singing was done and the hymnals were gathered up. Mom and I, Mrs. B, and Mrs. S reminisced about our shared history at a local church.

Mrs. B told me Mrs. S had been her middle son’s preschool Sunday School teacher. I said I was sorry I’d missed out on having her. I didn’t join that church until I was in middle school. Mom had grown up there, so a lot of people assume I did as well. I thought they’d get a kick out of hearing a fun anecdote about their pastor from those days.

“Dr. Landrum Leavell always told people we met that he had baptized me. But he didn’t. I never corrected him. Why would I? I liked that it made him happy to think he did,” I said.

“Dr. Leavell did baptize me.” Mrs. S offered.

“Really?” I asked, hopeful she’d add more. She did.

“I thought I was saved because I’d always been in church. But Dr. Leavell preached a sermon called Saved and Safe and I was convicted,” she remembered. “I was saved that night.”

“I was 30 years old,” she added. “And it was several months before I told anyone about it. When I finally did, I got baptized.”

A huge smile of surprise covered Mrs. B’s face as she said, “I never knew that story!”

A Testimony Worth Sharing

Next time I join my mom for Piano with Jana, I’m going to request we sing, I Love to Tell the Story. Maybe I’ll get to hear another testimony or two!

Mrs. S knew the name of the sermon–and the preacher–that made her realize she needed a Savior. She may have told the story many times–but Mrs B had known her for 60 years without hearing it. I’m glad we all got to hear it together. It was a joy-filled moment.

Come Alongside

I don’t remember as much detail about my salvation. I was pretty young. But I do love to tell my story. And I love hearing other people tell theirs.

You don’t have to know all the details. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering to be life-changing. It can be sweet and simple. Any story about Jesus saving a soul is worth the telling and the listening.

Don’t wait until you’re in the season of singing all the verses to share or to listen. Tell your faith story today. And ask someone you care about to tell theirs. If they don’t have one, maybe today is the day you can help them get one.

Traveling in Grace

Christi