This morning the little orchestra at our church was performing a new version of “Washed in the Blood.” It started out with only an electric guitar playing the first verse and I noticed the flutists were tapping their toes, though they had their instruments down.

As my eyes swept along the rows of winds and strings, I was amazed at the variations of keeping time. About half were forthright; a few used their heels; one was nodding and a couple of them were involving both feet. One lady was actually mouthing, “One, two, three, four; one, two…” Every member of the orchestra was tapping something.

Of course it is perfectly logical for musicians to keep time in anticipation of their entrance into the performance, but this incident made me think of other instances when we anticipate, often with trepidation, what’s going to happen next in our lives.

Life is not like a well-planned musical score. It bumps and bounces all over the place. The things we expect, don’t happen. Instead, stuff pops in from nowhere and knocks us off our feet. The best we can do is to simply keep the beat.

In this way, I suppose life is like an orchestra. A singular few sour notes can be overlooked as long as the rhythm is right.