Rest Can Be Good

I can't relax. I'm a madman. If I'm not playing guitar, I'm reading, working on a song, surfing the internet for information on a subject... typically music, running, pacing, chasing my daughter, etc. I C-A-N-N-O-T RELAX!!! I don't know what it is with myself. However... I've surprised myself. Anybody that has spent any real significant time with me knows that I LOVE the guitar. It's almost an affair. A glorious romance, that strangely enough, my wife is well aware of. Jealous? Maybe she is... but she's not willing to fight this love affair since it helps pay the bills. ANYWHO!!! I've taken time off from the guitar. I haven't played for an entire week. Let me explain what that means. I've picked up the guitar quite a bit, used it to help me in working on a song I've been writing for the last several days, spend 10 minutes here and there playing and practicing new lick ideas, and so on, but as for playing it and REALLY practicing? None. It's weird. At first I was nervous, but now not so much. I picked it up today and toyed around with it as a guitar and tool for songwriting and it felt really refreshing. Like things were more fluid. I don't know. Sometimes I think that I become so anal about my playing that it actually becomes work and not my hobby. I know what you're saying... "but Chris, it IS your job... you HAVE to work at it to be successful otherwise you're gonna be smoked by all the other great players in Nashville." Great... now that I've just shed a tear, let me come back to reality... I sincerely believe that I have excelled in my craft b/c it's always been my hobby... it's just fun. I've worked to improve my fun, but it's still fun. If I continue to live and dwell in that place of work and stress... how can I enjoy it then? I still have moments in concert when I throw out licks totally unplanned, get chills, and just turn around and laugh out loud b/c it got me back to feeling like that kid that first picked up the guitar. Those are the glory moments. The moments when I forget about paying bills, making an impression, excelling against all the competition, and just enjoy it. Those are great moments. The instances that I just enjoy the life that God has given me, as if my creativity is in perfect communion with the author of creation Himself... those are rare and beautiful moments. How so very often do we work, and stress, and work, and worry, and stress... and forget to just enjoy God, His salvation, and all the glorious gifts that come along with it. I feel a great amount of pleasure in my creating.... and I love it when I can stop, like my Father, look at it, and say... it is good. For second I wonder if God is giving me a glimpse of the pleasure He felt when He created and creates. Whatever it is... let me encourage you... enjoy what God has given you. Stop stressing, if your faith is in Christ... God wills to finish the good work He began in you. Let us be at peace, with great faith in our Lord, and just enjoy Him... that's why He made us... to enjoy Him. I hope you enjoy Him in whatever endeavors your purue are pursuing. Whatever it is... awesome!!! I'm just thankful that God gave me the guitar, my lovely companion, to enjoy Him in this way.

Lockwood