This week we finally got our piano tuned and it got me thinking about how we use “tune up” and it’s related phrases in our language and life. Here are the ones that quickly came to mind.

• car tune up
• we tune in (to a program) or
• we tune out
• we try to get in tune with ( with someone or a way of thinking)
• we change our tune
• an instrument is in tune or
• out of tune

Can you think of others?

There were two “lessons” that came to me during our piano tuning process.

Standard – there is always a standard for the tuning. In music the standard is tuning to A-440. For car tune ups, the standard is the manufacturers code, for radio/tv frequencies there are specific “fixed frequencies” in hertz. Even if we are attempting to get in tune with someone or some thing – that person or thing is the standard we are seeking to adapt to.

Accommodation – THIS one surprised me! Our piano man told us that the piano was going to be tuned low, to A-427. (That’s 13 degrees below “standard”) He said, there would be too much tension on the strings and hammers and some would possibly snap if we went too high. “The stress would be too great.” So, it is a perfectly normal practice to tune all 88 keys, in tune with one another, but to 427. The piano would be “in tune”, but to an accommodated standard. (Down the line, he said we would get another tuning to bring it up to 440.)

Application of “my lessons”:

There is and ought to be a standard in our lives for tuning, adjusting, configuring our thoughts, attitudes, ideas, beliefs, etc. It is what we should strive for – The Standard.

However, God has no interest in having us snap and live in constant tension under the stress of reaching for what appears to be an unattainable standard at this time. So He, in His grace, allows accommodations for us. For this time and space in our life, He allows for “baby steps” in our tuning. Smaller degrees of change that will eventually lead to “living up to the standard”. So we can be in tune, and still not up to standard. The standard is our goal, and will always be this side of heaven. But to be in tune now is what is attainable, needed and up to us.

What’s your standard? What accommodations are needed? Is it time for a tune up?

Cheers to you.