As we approach a certain age, many human beings do a bit of a review of how their lives have gone so far. Then we decide to do something drastic to hold on to the last vestiges of our youth. Men get a red sports car. Some women turn to plastic surgery.I signed up for guitar lessons.
Playing an instrument has been a lifelong desire, but there never seemed to be enough time or money to pursue that dream. For Christmas, my husband gave me the green light to charge down my hoped for musically-filled future. Our holiday season doesn't end until the second week in March, after 3 out of 4 of us have had our birthdays. Now, in the fourth week of March, I have carved out the time each week to take lessons and took my first lesson this past Tuesday!
I feel like an old fogey. There were three people working in the store and I'm pretty sure I was old enough to be any of their mothers. The whipper-snapper who gave me my first lesson asked me what kind of music I was interested in playing. When I told him Praise and Worship music, he stared at me blankly. Then he gave me an indulgent smile and showed me a couple of "bright" chords that might be helpful to me. I spent the rest of the half hour doing scales and practicing the two chords he showed me. I felt so clumsy as I tried to arch my fingers just so and move from fret to fret, trying to make the strings sound like something other than my first guitar that I made out of an oatmeal box and some rubber bands when I was 7. TWANG!!
When my time was up, he told me I needed to practice for one hour per day and sent me on my way. I walked out of the practice room, past the other two young things, and straight to my car. As I left, a 10-year-old was walking in for his guitar lesson. I put my guitar in the trunk of my car and, for a moment, questioned why someone my age was doing something people normally do when they are pretty young. Maybe I am too old for this.
Maybe I look foolish.
The Lord quickly but lovingly told me to hush up with that kind of thinking. He is the author and the completer of my faith. He wired me to be extremely blessed by singing praises to and about Him. When I am singing praises, I know that I know that I know I am doing exactly what He wants me to do. Playing the guitar will help me praise him in new and exciting ways. I am looking forward to that, even as I nurse my sore fingertips!
I found this verse today and I knew God showed it to me to make me smile. I just love his sense of humor. This will be my motivational verse for this guitar-learning adventure I have just begun:
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. ~Isaiah 42:16
Right now, I feel clumsy and blind around my beloved guitar, but He will make the rough places smooth. He will not forsake me! He is SO cool!
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