I listen to great pianists, watch the Olympic athletes, hear about incredible surgeons. Then I think of the hours of daily practice over the years that brought them to where they are now.

Artur Schnabel, a great pianist of the 20th century, defined great music as music that is composed better than it can be played. I think the same can be said of Christianity.

Only One has ever played the score perfectly, and He was the Composer. Some people have done magnificently. Others seem to forget the score halfway through, while still others never get past the practice stage. Most players are just average.

But the score, as God wrote it, and as our Lord Himself lived it, is the most beautiful the world has ever heard.

There was once a musician in a country where “God’s music” wasn’t allowed to be played. Daily he took out his score of Handel’s Messiah and placed it on the dining room table. Then, on the table, he moved his fingers silently and diligently through the entire score. “He was making music,” commented a friend, “that only God could hear.”

Anything worth doing well takes practice. I listen to great pianists, watch the Olympic athletes, hear about incredible surgeons. Then I think of the hours of daily practice over the years that brought them to where they are now.

It is easy to become casual in a land where Christianity is accepted. If there are any regrets in Heaven, perhaps they will be that given such beautiful music to play—music composed better than it can be played—most of us have practiced so casually, so little.

Taken by permission from “Legacy of a Pack Rat,” by Ruth Bell Graham, ©1989 The Ruth Graham Literary Trust.