When a Musical Bully Approaches

June 1, 2022

When I was a kid, I was on the receiving end of a couple bully encounters on the elementary school playground that I can clearly remember.

One kid walked up to me, put his arm around me and asked me if we could be friends.

“Sure,” I said, innocently.  The next thing I knew, he had put his leg out in front of mine, pushed me over it, and I was on the ground, dumbfounded, as he walked away cackling with sinister delight.

I didn’t see that coming.

Another encounter I had with a bully happened repeatedly over time.  It involved my football getting launched across the playground by an older kid.

We younger students threw a football around at recess every day, and once in a while, the ball bounced over to where the older kids were playing.  The first few times caught me off guard.  One of the older kids would take our football and launch it away from us, all the way to the other side of the playground. 

I could tell that this guy really enjoyed making us have to run to get our ball.  The good news was that I could predict what was going to happen each time my football bounced into enemy territory.

Well, after a while, this got old.  Finally, at one point, when our ball bounced over to this older kid and I watched him pick it up, I walked right up to him.  Just as he was about to wind up and throw the ball in his usual manner, I reached out and knocked the ball out of his hands.

He didn’t see that coming.

For a moment, he just stared at me.  But as I picked up the ball and walked away, he started shouting, waving his arms and kicking his legs, with conduct similar to a toddler throwing a tantrum. 

I had taken away his power.  And from then on, he knew that I wasn’t going to tolerate what he had been doing.

Ok, let’s switch gears for a moment.  Think about your guitar journey, and the various peaks and valleys you’ll inevitably encounter.  As you dig into the challenges of music, there will be people who speak encouragement into your life.  But there will also be people who want to discourage you.  I classify these people, on whatever level, as bullies.

They’re the types of naysayers who may be jealous of your progress, or they may just be looking for a way to make themselves feel better.  They’re out there – believe me.  I’ve met several of them, and some have been some of the most unlikely sources of negativity. 

There’s even a bully you’ve already met.  Wait for it – it’s you.  You can actually be the naysayer who instigates a fruitless conversation with yourself of negative self-talk.  I know, because I’ve done it many times. 

But as I mentioned – that conversation is fruitless.  There’s really nothing good that can come from statements like “I’ll never get this,” or “What am I doing trying to learn this,” or “This is just too hard for a person like me in my season of life.”

Well…if we say those things, we’ll begin to believe those things.

2 Corinthians 10:5 concludes with the statement that “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

What if, when a negative voice enters your musical conversation, whether from without or within, you took that thought captive and responded with, “I’m called to this, and by His strength, I can do this”?

I always want to be realistic.  I’m not expecting to conquer the most technical guitar piece out there in a single afternoon.  But I do believe that with serious fun and hard work, we can fulfill the calling the Lord has placed on our lives as guitarists, at whatever level of musicianship He invites us to.

Throughout the process, we need to be vigilant, so that we can see the bully approaching.  Then we need to engage.  We need to meet that bully face-to-face, responding gently but firmly, without being intimidated by negative, naysaying thoughts.  Whatever is offered, we’ll take those thoughts captive and remind ourselves why we play, and for whom we play. 

And then, we’ll take the very next serious fun step forward on our guitar journey.

Perhaps this was encouraging to you, or perhaps it was a little bit convicting.  Either way, your willingness to consider my words could bless you as you continue forward pursuing serious fun on the guitar.  Remember, not everyone out there wants you to succeed on the guitar.  But I sure do, and I hope you do too!