The more I play, the more I start to play like the guitar is an actual emotion stored up inside. I'm fascinated by jazz and approaching my instrument with a virtuoso frame of mind... the modes, the phrasing, the stylish tricks, but I'm finding that my best days are when I play least like a theory machine and more like a madman that's bottled up the anger too long, or an old woman that knits afghans for the love of her family and friends, the teenager that needs to find a way to escape the peer pressure, or the young man that just needs to make the most of his instrument of worship.... there... that's me. The more the guitar becomes my instrument of worship, the more I feel at peace with the message I'm sending or creating on the instrument. The theory and the countless hours are helpful but only as long as they become a means to an end... worship. We all worship while we play our instruments... some worship the person they're trying to play like, some worship that unique piece of craftsmanship they hold in their hands, others worship themselves and the great music they have taken part in, but I encourage you to use your instrument to worship something that is eternally worthy of worship. In the grand scheme, music is just another thing in the universe destined to be forgotten, but what we glory in will never be forgotten. Should we glory in anything else other than the one and only true God... we will find that whatever great melodies we created will only resonate to haunt us for the rest of our lives. So what am I saying? I guess that as I am learning to humble myself to be God's instrument, the more He moves me to play my instrument the way I was meant to play it. I find much greater joy in the creativity of God's choosing than any creativity that I might muster up apart from Him. Whatever the day may hold, I hope that all my efforts in my instrument come from His endless source of material, go back to Him as a way of saying thanks for everything, and that I find myself playing beyond my wildest dreams... now that will make you emotional.
