The Sightless Guitarist

Today, I’m coming to you totally unscripted. Read on (or listen) and you’ll find out why.

I went to the optometrist today, and they had to put a couple drops in my eyes to dilate them so that they could check and make sure that my eyes were healthy.

Good news: my eyes are healthy.

The less good news is that because of the dilating liquid, I can temporarily barely see things up close, including anything written down, anything on my cell phone, or even the counting numbers on my recording device.

I had to ask my 12-year-old daughter to verify these things so that I could speak extemporaneously and spontaneously, which is exactly what I'm doing here. (Check the audio recording for what I captured for your ears.)

I'm going to hang a few truths on a few bullets that are just now coming to me, but I want to encourage you with the thought that even if something happens that weakens us or lessens our faculties, God can still be glorified.

So the first thing I want to speak to is the idea that not everybody who walks on this planet is able to see things clearly, and God can use that.

The late Fanny Crosby wrote a beautiful hymn called Blessed Assurance and she has all kinds of wonderful imagery including “Visions of rapture now burst on my sight.”

So many wonderful images are in that hymn and it was brought to my attention that she was not able to see.

I don't know how much of her life she was not able to see, but certainly when she penned those anointed lyrics that was something she could see in her mind's eye but not with her actual eyes.

So I want to just highlight the fact that there are a lot of musicians out there who may not be able to see but who can still make great music…and I actually had the privilege of seeing the Blind Boys of Alabama open for Peter Gabriel, probably I think 20 years ago now, and they were phenomenal.

I don't know why I remember this so clearly but one of the guys had such tremendous breath control or circular breathing with his singing that someone was actually able to lead him from the stage out into the crowd and then back up onto the stage while he sustained a note.

I don't think there was any gimmick in play, but as a vocalist I don't exactly know how he was able to accomplish that.

All that to say they performed a tremendously engaging set, and to my knowledge most of them are sightless.

So that's why they call themselves the Blind Boys of Alabama.

So I've seen a few different musicians either in person or on video or I've read articles about them, and they've either been born without sight or they've experienced the deterioration of their sight to the point where they can still play, but they have no visual communication with their instrument, and they are still making great music.

The second point I want to make is the fact that not looking at our instrument can actually be a good thing.

I don't know if you've been led in worship by someone who is pretty visually tethered to their music stand or to their guitar, but it sort of feels like they are kind of having their own dialogue with what's going on up on the platform and they're not really engaging with the congregation.

In my later developments of worship leading strategies, I've chosen whenever possible to be memorized… and that does two things.

One, it allows me to have a really solid knowledge of the music that I have practiced and developed.

But two, it allows me to have great visual communication not just with the band, but also with the congregation and even the technicians.

When I can look beyond what I'm doing because I don't literally have any music to stare at, I can actually communicate better.

And actually, people sometimes have expressed to me that they've felt like I've led them even more sincerely because I did not have a music stand in front of me.

Now, I'm not saying that not having a music stand is the only way to go.

Some of us don't have the bandwidth to memorize our music.

But there's a difference between glancing to reference it and being totally focused on it and unable to look up except momentarily.

So anyway, the idea of being visually independent of your instrument can be tremendously empowering. And to that end I actually want to encourage you to try something that I've done from time to time and that's to sit down with your guitar and work on something that you're developing that you either have memorized or have a pretty good handle on but turn off the lights or put on a blindfold.

If you do that your physical and auditory senses will be heightened, because you will not be able to see what it is that you're doing and you'll feel those larger fret distances, and you'll feel your hands at the instrument really holding on a little bit more intentionally because you have to orientate yourself to the instrument without looking at it.

Any sort of physical motor skill, whether it's a sports skill, a musical skill, any of these sorts of skills where we're using our hands, we need to develop a level of tactile familiarity with our craft so that we can do it better, but also so that we don't have to rely on our eyes.

Because then we can be more artistic, more visually independent, and I would argue that the artistry is increased.

So the last thing I want to share with you is the idea that scripture reminds us that though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day (1 Corinthians 4:16).

It's not so much about our visual or even physical abilities.

It's about where we are spiritually with the Lord as we live our lives and do our good work.

So, as I think about our aging bodies, every last one of us will experience a deterioration of our faculties, but that's going to be expected.

People don't get stronger as they get older.

Our vision doesn't get clearer as we get older.

In fact, my optometrist today said that in the next three to five years, I can expect to have a need for a different kind of contact lens that might be able to have a multifocal capacity so that I can read a little bit better up close.

Literally, as I speak to you right now, I could not read a piece of paper in front of me if my life depended on it.

There's no way that I could even see it.

In fact, even as I look at my hand, it's got a little bit of blurriness to it.

Ironically, I was able to drive just fine because I could see distance-wise no problem.

But anything up close was harder, and it just gave me a foreshadowing of what will happen later in my life when I lose some of those faculties, some of those strengths.

What will happen?

Well, there could be a temptation to get discouraged, but also I could also have to rely on other people more.

And as I may have mentioned in the past, I like to be pretty independent.

I like to focus on my good work and not have to ask somebody else for fear of inconveniencing them.

But, in one of our past interviews with Erin Pakinas, we talked about When Your Gifts Are Needed.

Well, I want to flip that, because maybe I need someone else's gifts to assist me.

My youngest daughter was only too happy to read to me what was on my text, or only too happy to tell me that it was Episode 62, where I talked about The Sick Guitarist, because I literally had to say, “What does this say on my computer screen What number is that?”

I couldn't even read it.

So there will come a time when I may not be able to see at all. And Lord willing, I'll still be making music on some level.

So my encouragement to you is to remember that we are not meant for this world.

We are not designed to live for hundreds and hundreds of years.

We're designed to be here for a season and to allow the Lord to work through us as we develop our gifts and share our gifts and as we share His love with a world in desperate need of it.

But eventually we'll go home to be with him and then our resurrected bodies, our heavenly bodies, will not experience any sort of corruption.

We won't have tears, we won't have weakness or pain or sorrow. And it'll be a whole new beautiful glorious thing that God has prepared for us.

Wrap-Up

Well, I hope these musings have encouraged you in some way, whether practically or spiritually, just to remember that we are wasting away, but inwardly we're being renewed day by day by the Lord.

So, try turning out the lights as you practice for a little bit, or put on a blindfold.

Read some of the lyrics of Fanny Crosby and her hymn, Blessed Assurance.

Play some beautiful music on your guitar, and just remember that every time you sit down to play, that's a gift the Lord has given you, because there will come a time when each of us plays our final notes on the guitar.

We don't know when that will be, so let's enjoy music now while we can, and then let's eagerly await the music of Heaven.

And if you want to enjoy music in a group setting alongside a tribe of like-minded followers of Christ, I do encourage you to check out what we've got going on at GuitarSuccess4U.com.

The URL is www.GuitarSuccess4U.com.

Thank you for listening, and I hope to see you next time.

This has been really weird to be able to speak without a script, but I still hope that it has brought some value.

So, we'll see you next time.