So I'm sitting here on the couch home alone watching the Ashes. And yes I have heard every joke under sun! As a proud Australian, naturally I am fairly impressed so far by our over all performance. That got my thinking, once I moved past each players stats, what does it mean to look past our individual "performances" and look at our overall improvement? For me, I can relate this question to my music. At first your not that great and often are very good at criticising yourself, but then bit by bit you start to grow and learn new things which improve your overall "performance". However, I can relate this too my life as well, and we will all be able to relate this something in our lives. In the moment of trouble or hurt or pain, we can be so quick to give up because we are so focused on the hear and now, if only we could look past that one little moment and take a look and what this might be doing to our "overall performance". I spose that can apply both positively and negatively to different circumstances.
When I wrote my first song I thought nothing of it, thought nothing of a career in music or that one day it would mean something to someone. However God had different plans. If only back then I could have looked at the bigger picture and let people into that space so that I could grow and learn for the very start instead of letting myself criticise the songs. I remember playing a song I had written for the first time to a dear friend and I can remember his reaction as though it was yesterday. That day I realised that maybe this stuff was worth something.
Things started to move along and I started writing more songs. I remember being asked to play one of my songs to our church and being extremely nervous and uncertain. That was the first time I exposed that part of my to an audience. Well God was moving that day, not only in the church but in me. Even then I couldn't see past the hear and now. Now I'm playing all over the place and I count it an absolute privilege to share that part of me with people. I can now see what all that was worth back when I first started.
I hope and pray that you all might be able to see past those horrible moments, those first time moments, and those dumb decision moments, and accept that it happened. Not to criticise or put yourself down, but to look at what it's doing to your over all "performance" because God works in all manner of ways and can use any and every situation you are faced with. Take heart and keep your chin up, it's not over yet!
Grace and Peace Everyone!
Friday, 12 July 2013
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Behind the Guitar
Oh Blog!! It's been far too long!
So much has been going on lately, but that's no excuse! So I do apologize people!
So I just got back from Queensland learning about culture for Uni and It was an amazing experience to be apart of! The only downside is that I lost my voice completely, that was nearly 1 week and a half ago, and I am still getting it back now! I have never lost my voice like that, I couldn't talk, I couldn't sing, I couldn't even hum without sounding like a dying bloated cow! Was very distressing! However it made me think. Do I take my voice, my musical talent for granted? I didn't particularly need my voice except one night up there, but I felt as though I had lost the biggest thing I had going for me. I remember lying in my bed one night trying to work out why I was so distressed at not being able to sing. I didn't need to, yet I felt as though I was missing a huge part of me. After many long hours of pondering it became apparent that perhaps in the midst of all this cultural diversity we where experiencing my music, my voice was part of my identity. I was in a completely different culture, and the one thing I felt I could appropriately give to this beautiful people to show my identity was my music, and with no voice that was stripped away. This idea of showing who I was, was never verbally spoken or never asked of me, however in my head it was expected that I would have to reveal to these people who I was, but not only that, reveal a huge chunk of my life. My songs talk about me as a person, my faith, and my journey so far.
This was an eye opening experience. Yes my music is a huge part of my identity, but I have other things that make up me. As I chatted with the friends we were staying with, I was able to dive into so much more about me, not just surface stuff. I was able to actually talk with people about my faith, and have a discussion around why it is so important to me, rather than just playing them a song that means the same thing. I am not saying that I have been fake in anyway by sharing these songs with people, because I still believe they hold great insight into me and my journey, but what I am saying is I came to realize that I am not defined by my vocal chords or my guitar playing skills, that the message behind the songs I write is what I need to be talking about and discussing with people.
I am encouraging you all today to not be defined by your skills, but open up to whats behind those skills and grab someone you trust and talk to them about it. If you are like me, it is easy to hide behind your guitar, but when you put it down, conversations happen, and that's golden.
Grace and Peace Everyone!
So much has been going on lately, but that's no excuse! So I do apologize people!
So I just got back from Queensland learning about culture for Uni and It was an amazing experience to be apart of! The only downside is that I lost my voice completely, that was nearly 1 week and a half ago, and I am still getting it back now! I have never lost my voice like that, I couldn't talk, I couldn't sing, I couldn't even hum without sounding like a dying bloated cow! Was very distressing! However it made me think. Do I take my voice, my musical talent for granted? I didn't particularly need my voice except one night up there, but I felt as though I had lost the biggest thing I had going for me. I remember lying in my bed one night trying to work out why I was so distressed at not being able to sing. I didn't need to, yet I felt as though I was missing a huge part of me. After many long hours of pondering it became apparent that perhaps in the midst of all this cultural diversity we where experiencing my music, my voice was part of my identity. I was in a completely different culture, and the one thing I felt I could appropriately give to this beautiful people to show my identity was my music, and with no voice that was stripped away. This idea of showing who I was, was never verbally spoken or never asked of me, however in my head it was expected that I would have to reveal to these people who I was, but not only that, reveal a huge chunk of my life. My songs talk about me as a person, my faith, and my journey so far.
This was an eye opening experience. Yes my music is a huge part of my identity, but I have other things that make up me. As I chatted with the friends we were staying with, I was able to dive into so much more about me, not just surface stuff. I was able to actually talk with people about my faith, and have a discussion around why it is so important to me, rather than just playing them a song that means the same thing. I am not saying that I have been fake in anyway by sharing these songs with people, because I still believe they hold great insight into me and my journey, but what I am saying is I came to realize that I am not defined by my vocal chords or my guitar playing skills, that the message behind the songs I write is what I need to be talking about and discussing with people.
I am encouraging you all today to not be defined by your skills, but open up to whats behind those skills and grab someone you trust and talk to them about it. If you are like me, it is easy to hide behind your guitar, but when you put it down, conversations happen, and that's golden.
Grace and Peace Everyone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)