This morning, my lesson for music theory started right on time.
But in a much more conventional sense, it actually started very late.
My professor didn't get there until right at 8:00, as we all walked in the lights were off and we had to get electricians to come back in and fix them, the projector didn't work, and we spent the first ten minutes after our technology (relatively) came back on trying to help our professor navigate our new email system to find her lesson materials.
But for me, the message our class received by that unfortunate string of events was delivered at the most apt time.
We spent the remainder of class barreling through the rules of 4th species counterpoint, our professor trying to cover as much material she could with the time she had left, wrestling with the projector and speaking over the construction banging outside and the two electricians talking about our breaker system in the back corner.
At the end of the lesson she sat her materials down and set her hand on the podium, signifying a finality to the subject of counterpoint and the transition into something else.
"Class," she addressed us, "sometimes in life, things are not going to go according to plan." She described how she had a lot she wanted to cover today, and apologized that so much time was wasted in a class we were paying to attend, and expressed her own frustration in that wasted time.
"But that is okay," she continued, "because things go wrong, but we need to keep going. There are always going to be things that go wrong, but you always must remember to keep going. No matter what happens."
I know she didn't mean to, but it felt like she was speaking directly to me. Over the past month I have been inundated with exams, projects, practice, and rehearsals. On top of this I've been writing a number of essays for several very competitive outside summer study opportunities that are admittedly a miracle if I get past the first round of applications for. It's felt like everything I'm doing is hopeless, like it doesn't matter because nothing is going to follow through anyways.
But today - the day before a major exam, with an article due, with another essay to write, and with rehearsal to attend to - when I felt like I wouldn't finish anything, my music theory class started late and my professor told me to keep going. Even if I get rejected, even if I'm tired, even if I get a bad grade, and even if it feels like life is stagnant right now.
I think God knew I needed to hear that indirectly. And I hope that right now if you're taking risks, working, and spending time to find something greater but feeling like you're not good enough that this message reaches you too.
It doesn't matter that you started late, so long as you finish the lesson.