Right Intention

this past sunday, i began playing the service with some fearfulness and anxiety in my heart. i got through the first part of the service without any major difficulties, but as i moved from the organ to take my seat with the choir for the lessons and sermon, that unease continued. during the sermon, i sensed the reassuring presence of God, reminding me that my playing should be a joyful offering to God and my fear arose from what others would think of me if i made a major blunder. in my heart, God told me that i had nothing to fear because God is a forgiving God and when my intention is right, i have no need to fear what others may think. God reminded me that i had come to each practice in preparing for the service with the right intention, so i was adequately prepared and that now my only task was to offer the remainder of the service to God. when i returned to the organ bench, my mind was at ease, and the opening words of psalm 139, which was the first thing we sang after sitting back down on the bench, spoke to me with new meaning.

as i sit in the quiet of the morning and reflect on that psalm once more, i am grateful that in every circumstance, God is present. God is always with me because i am God's creation and there is "that of God" within me and in every part of God's creation. i think, too, of the noble eightfold path and am reminded that right view, right intention, right mindfulness, and right concentration are half of the path. my prayer for myself and for others this morning it that we will remember that our busy minds cloud the reality of what truly is, that silence is a great blessing, that God is always present if we stop to listen, and that failure to take right action because of fear of making a mistake which causes condemnation by others is a sign that our intentions are not the right intentions.