I Wanna ROCK!

Doing What We Want to Do

Emmett Brown (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I did not grow up in a “church going” family. I have no recollection of us ever going to a worship service together, even at Christmas.  My folks were not anti God we just didn’t go. We celebrated Easter and Christmas but not for the same reasons as Christians.

So I have a different mindset toward the holidays, church attendance and most things that fall under the religion umbrella – including our gifts and talents. I grew up during the era where we were taught that if we believed we could do something – then by golly – you could do it.

Quoting Doc Brown, Marty McFly said “if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.”

I believed that I put my mind to learning guitar and becoming a famous rock star.

Only God had ZERO intention of letting that happen.

My desire to play guitar comes first from having a father that plays – and always made it look easy. He’d play and sing and when he did our house always seemed to come alive. We were all happy – or so I thought.

Second, I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s listening to the “Hair” bands and wanting to live that life style.  I cut my musical teeth on bands like Kiss, Aerosmith and Queen – all featuring TREMENDOUS “axe” men. As I got older the guys got flashier, the hair got longer and the make-up…well let’s just say, I might have sported a mullet at one point but I was never willing to wear mascara. Of course, none of that matters because…

I cannot play guitar.

I have, at different times, owned effects pedals, amps and other recording equipment. I have taken “live” lessons where the instructor sits in the room with you. I have taken on-line lessons – I have a membership right now at Guitar Tricks.  You name it, I’ve tried it.

I have fought God on this for much longer than I care to remember or admit – though you could say I just did.

Doing What God Designed Us to Do

When we remove our own hard headed desires and look at the things we can naturally do and are good at we open the door for God to come in and lead us to do what he’s designed us to do.

The Bible refers to this in Proverbs as our natural bend.  The way we’re made, the way we inclined to go. Sort of like the flow of a river. (Prov. 22:6 AMP)

The key to this is the same as with most things when it comes to how we approach God – humility. We must remove ourselves from the equation. We cannot insist on having things our way and try to make God fit into our lives. After all, once we accept the truth of God our lives no longer belong to us.

When we accept that truth – and like it or not that IS the truth – we’re free to do what God has gifted us to do.

For me, this was giving up the dream of doing anything in music – expect maybe write about it – why, because God didn’t give me the ability to create music.  He DID, however, give me the ability to put words on paper in a clear, meaningful and understandable way.

Does any of this make sense?

Are you doing what God has gifted you to do or are you fighting for something you’re not made to do? Leave a comment below and let’s talk about it.