“Just do it”–you think of shoes, right? I think about music and a strategy for living.
Normally, I play solo harp. On a recent Sunday, I had the privilege of playing a duet with my good friend, a cellist. We performed at his church, where our classical music was a slight contrast but in harmony of spirit to the contemporary worship. Along with “On Wings of Song” by Mendelson, we played hymns like “When I survey the Wondrous Cross,” and “Give Me Jesus,” and spirituals like “Deep River.”
If I were in the Sound of Music, duets with this friend would be high on the list of favorite things, even when that means two hour rehearsals and being at church very early. The plucked notes of the harp and the smooth deep voice of the cello are like cookies and cream–perfect together.
But that is only half of it.
Performing music accurately but 
musically is hard enough solo. Adding another person gets complicated. There are tempos, rests, pickups, dynamics and musical expression to all work out with another player. Double this since my friend and I have made up several of our arrangements due to a lack of harp and cello duet music on the market. And it has been at least a year since we played together.
All in all, it is allot to get right.
Practicing on a muggy Wednesday, we sweated and sorted and tried to remember how we had played these pieces before. But after a few general suggestions my friend said, “Let’s just play it.” This is my favorite thing–my friend can follow in the moment. He can feel the dynamic changes as I make them, sway with the tempo changes we never talked about, cue me when to come ins and stretch a passage when I have a difficult page turn. He is amazingly “in tune” to playing as a duet. This assurance of playing with a capable musician that is worth all the extra effort. And as we practiced on Wednesday we were able to just do it Sunday.
Sometimes we can’t do it alone. Sometimes we can’t think, talk or figure all the ways working together is going to work before it happens. Sometimes we just need to play our part and follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in the moment.
Sometimes, we need to just Du-et.