Monday, February 4, 2008

Blame


A few weeks ago I was sitting with a friend listening to music. After an hour of listening and discussing and then listening some more I said to him, "You know, I consider it a travesty that someone could love music as much as I do and be so unable to perform any of it." My friend, who is very accomplished musically said, "I was just thinking the same thing."


For a very long time I looked for excuses for my low musical IQ. I looked everywhere. Eventually, I asked another musically talented friend if his family sang all the time. He said, "No, not really." Ok, then, certainly they forced you to practice..."No, not really." Then you had lessons..."No, not really." I was dumbfounded. All of this "No, not really," meant that there was only one place left to cast my blame. I didn't want to, but what choice did I have?


Yes, it was at that time that I realized that there was no one left to blame but God. You may be cringing that I would even use the term blame in reference to God, but you must understand that I mean it in the most reverential manner possible. In fact, it is really a compliment to His nature and sovereignty.


You see, I believe the ability to perform music a beautiful and substantial gift, and yet if there is a gift there must also be a giver. In fact, if the giver gives the gift universally, the gift becomes a little bit less special, although it is still precious. Therefore my appreciation of the musical giftedness of my friends is due in large part to my lack of giftedness. The fact that I am several standard deviations below the mean is somewhat essential to their lofty perch on the bell curve.


All of this really does have a point. You see, I have learned that it does not do me well to blame the innocent. They did not earn the gift. It was freely given by a great and glorious benefactor. No, I have learned that it is truly appropriate to acknowledge that my lack or my abundance is due to the Lord God. This is a truly liberating conclusion.


Please do me a favor, however. Please realize that this acknowledgement of the divine nature of the dispensation of gifts is not limited to music. No, it is most certainly not. It is true of the ability to write, to read, to create beautiful objects, to ...Even the entrepreneurial spirit is a gift of God.


We must be very careful, though. You see, if we are not careful we could use this premise as an excuse for not doing anything. I don't mean it that way. No, not at all. What I mean is that we need to be more grateful for the gifts that we have. We need to take less credit for what we have and look more kindly on those without. We need to remember that the wonders of our gifts say much more about the giver than about the receiver of the gifts.


I think...that we should be more thankful.

2 comments:

-Kristy said...

well...you have made this some what proficient piano player realize that while she does lament over her somewhat fading skill and lack of learning new songs, all of it is self inflicted by not finding time and prioritizing. I can only blame myself. By the way, its never too late to learn an instrument!!

Trent said...

learning to play notes on and isntrument is not enough for me. Whatever I learn would be nothing but a shadow of what I would hope to hear and just a ghost of what I have heard.