Opus 2026-260: Embrace the Frustration

I think we all have come to plateaus and walls in our lives.  We are making progress.  We are enjoying life at its current level.  Wham!  Life barges in and stops us in our tracks.  To be honest it isn’t always a sudden trauma.  It may be something that sneaks up on us when we are not paying attention.

I had a change in my life that kept me away from playing my guitar and leading in worship.  Years later when I tried to pick it up again I found that my fingers had grown stiff, my memory was vague and my voice was creaky.  Because I could still join in congregational singing I was okay.  Then my voice got worse. I was facing the abandonment of music.

It was frustrating.

I am working on the chords but it is an uphill battle.  I decided to work on something my fingers seemed to be able to do and explored playing the melody line.  It worked in the key of C but most songs are written in other keys . What to do?  Many songs I loved were written in five flats.  If you are not into music it is like putting your Oreos into single serving pickle jars.  You need someone else to open them.

I chose not to let the frustration rule.  I used to joke that I would give anything to be able to play the piano…except the time and effort.  Since I have plenty of time for naps I decided I had nothing to lose and started putting in the time and effort.  It has been working.  I can now turn to any song in the hymnal and play it so that a generous soul would admit that they recognized it.

I will never be professional.  I don’t need to be.  My musical discernment is at a low enough level that I can enjoy what I am doing and hope to improve as I go.  I assume God is able to read the joy in my heart with His ear plugs firmly inserted.

How many other areas of life can I seek to conquer?  How many mountains can I try to climb?  Time will tell.  Let me encourage you to look at areas of frustration and start putting in the time and effort to defeat the frustration.

homo unius libri