No one said anything about calluses

So I picked up my guitar today having to dust off the cob webs and put new strings on. Yes, it has been that long since I’ve played. Kaiya and Allie have enjoyed plunking on the guitar while hidden in my closet. After tuning, I sat down to play a few chords of a song I had written years ago. I lasted fifteen minutes. I looked down at my fingers all sore, red, and starting to swell. They are definitely not in guitar playing mode.

I laughed as I was reminded about how disciplined a good musician has to be. It caught me off guard how this parallels to my walk with Christ. How easy it is to coast it out and rely on what I have previously learned without putting a lot of practice in to keeping it up. After a while without practice, the calluses I formed while playing begin to soften on my hands. Much like how my attitude or life can begin to conform to the things as my heart softens in my relationship with Christ. When I don’t keep disciplined in my relationship with God I find myself not being quick on remembering verses like I used to or even hearing the voice of God, because I’m not in tune like I used to be - I have become soft. Sooner or later, the guitar gets put in the closet, only temporarily, until I realize cob webs have begun to form and my calluses are gone.

The hard part about calluses is they don’t form overnight. I’m not going to be able to play my guitar much longer tomorrow than I did today, yet with a disciplined schedule of a little practice every day I know it will pay off. As for my relationship with God, I know I need to be disciplined to be in His Word each day and spend time communicating with Him through prayer. Our relationship with Him takes work just like it says in His Word.

Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” In the chapter it later says in verse 11, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Yes, this Christian walk does take a lot of perseverance, disciple, and plain hard work, yet this verse reminds us that it wasn’t easy for Christ when He was here. His road was so much harder than mine. He endured beatings, fatigue, the weight of the world on His shoulders and ultimately death. When I think about that a few calluses aren’t so bad.