The Reason You’ll Quit Music This Year.
A musician of 25 years got there by winning a long game of tug-of-war. A student who stayed in music lessons throughout his school years did so only because he and his parents refused to quit when the burning and bleeding came. A community full of strong singers persevered through many lackluster moments of singing. If you want to do music, you need grit—you can’t stop when the going gets tough.
It’s fitting to remind ourselves of this as we experience the dawn of a new year. It’s sweet like the morning. It’s bright like an early summer’s day. And while you should relish this unique joy, you should also see that the burning 3 o’clock sun is not far off. The “why we start” is here and clear, but make no mistake: the “why we stop” reasons are sure to come and tempt us—no matter who you are! These negative “whys” often occur at the intersection of temptation and vulnerability.
C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters makes it plain that temptations are subtle, and humans are vulnerable. A temptation will never call itself by its name in the moment, and man, in his weakness, will not guard his weak points. The cycle of deception and fall is as old as the serpent’s tongue and the Trojan horse. We listen to scoffing questions: “Is it really so that ____? Do I really need to do ____?” We welcome hollow comforts and excuses into our lives that quietly kill priorities in the night. Therefore, it’s fitting that we remind ourselves of the old, tried-and-true tactics that subvert success as we set eyes on fresh goals this new year. An offense is only as good as its defense, so let’s ensure that our renewed offensive efforts win the day by preparing our defenses for strong hits and the “trick” plays of the enemy.
While this caution may seem overly intense for music lessons, we reflect on it because we know music is incredibly important. God was singing as He unwound the universe. Our primary vehicle of corporate praise and adoration at church is singing, and musical development sharpens our cognitive abilities in innumerable ways. Knowing that pursuing and persevering in music provides countless blessings, we must beware of the one thing that could make us quit music lessons this year. This one thing will snatch your joy, siphon your fuel, and ultimately lead you to quit. Avoid it!
The one reason: you’ll forget the story.
As I noted, music has been around for a long time. Not only has it been around for a long time, but it has also been everywhere in the universe. Job 38 notes that singing accompanied God’s creation of the heavens and the earth. Psalm 19 says the heavens—far beyond our blue skies—declare the glory of God. We know, as Psalm 98 tells us and as Christ Himself noted, that creation loves to declare the glory of God by singing, not merely by existing. That means as the majestic spiral of the Milky Way was spun, as the dippin’ dot star clusters were cast, and as the waters were parted from the lands, there was music.
At the creation of woman and the first marriage, there was a song of love and adoration. Twenty verses after Adam and Eve had their first son, Jubal started the first music academy. Noah and Abraham built altars to the Lord, calling upon His name and praising Him for His great mercies and eternal covenants. Right after God gave the Egyptians a “big bath” and right before He gave the Israelites the good land and law, Moses and his family composed and led the people in a symphony. When Israel was starving for fathers, He raised up Deborah, the musical mother, who ensured her people both slaughtered and sang. In assembling the Scriptures delivered once for all, God used David and others to make sure the longest book of the Bible was a songbook.
When the Word became flesh, every character in the story sang and worshiped—whether it was the angels, Mary, Zechariah, or Simeon (and now there are millions of Christmas songs). As the time for Christ’s passion approached, He led the disciples in song at the Last Supper. In Jesus’s resurrection and ascension, the entire host of creation sang a new song that cannot stop, and it is this song that all who die in the Lord are destined to sing before His face one day.
I highlight these threads of worship and music in the Bible to show that the story of music weaves through every page of our story. It is ancient, it is now, and it is to come. Music comes from God, is received by God as an offering from His people, and will be how we adore the Lamb around the throne. If music has always been and always will be, if it is the staple of worship, if it possesses enough glory that all creatures do it and are always transformed by it—both in body and spirit—how can we not welcome it into our lives and strive to make it excellent through diligent study and practice? If the wonder of this story and its application is forgotten (like that penny in your car from 10 years ago), it will become incredibly easy to stop practicing, studying, and doing music.
However, if the story of music enlivens you—if you meditate on the wonder of the singing stars, the way music allows many voices to simultaneously talk yet say one thing, and the truth that God desires to be worshiped and glorified through your music—you will make it a part of your paideia. And it won’t go anywhere, and you won’t believe the blessings to come. God is musical. God’s people are musical. We shall sing now, and we shall sing even when we no longer have a body. So don’t stop now—we’re just getting started.
-Sean Bohnet (Director)
