Desensitized

Last weekend, I spent some time with my old guitar. I was strumming some chords and I heard that something was not right with the sound. I tried to tune my guitar. As I was turning the tuning keys of my guitar, I noticed that the sound got worse than before. I haven't really mastered the art of tuning but somehow I was relatively successful in my previous attempts to tune my guitar. After several minutes trying to tune my guitar, I decided to tune it with the help of my keyboards. I set up my old dusty keyboards (which were not used for months now). I played the specific note in the keyboards and manage to play the string of my guitar. But after several minutes (again?!!) of comparing the sound of the notes, I can’t really make the 6 strings of my guitar sound in harmony. I felt disappointed. I used to tune my guitar all by myself. What went wrong? Now, I was thinking of bringing my guitar to a music shop for a check up. Maybe it’s because of the worn-out strings… Or the dysfunctional tuning keys? Or maybe my own ears?!!

Because I haven’t practiced tuning my guitar by ear (oido) for quite some time, my ears were not keen anymore. I felt they were desensitized. This pair of ears wasn’t able to distinguish the difference in the notes being played. I just thought of what our pastor said. “Our ears should be like the ears of the sheep that knows the voice of its shepherd.” We must be able to distinguish the voice of our Master Shepherd – Jesus. Spending time praying and reading the Bible will develop this listening skill. One more thought that came to my mind - “We should not love this world so much that we forget where is our citizenship – our citizenship is in heaven.” Apostle Paul said in Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Our ears and also our hearts should always be in tuned to God and His Word.

But my guitar is still out of tune these days...
I need more… more practice!
--April 12, 2005