Connections

So I am a music major, and I have to practice a lot. I also am a vocalist, and I have to sing a lot. But I don't always sing for my practice time. Sometimes I watch masterclasses on the internet to get another teacher's viewpoint on this nebulous thing known as the voice, and sometimes these masterclasses become educational beyond the musical realm, whether it was the instructor's intent or not.
There are so many parallels between the life of a musician (particularly a vocalist) and the life of a believer. Thus I have dubbed the practice room as the "sanctification room", and actually started writing a book on all of my discoveries over the past few years.
This masterclass that I watched the other day ended up being primarily about the breath, which wonder of all wonders was what I was struggling with at the time. I am loosely quoting the teacher (who was Joyce DiDonato for those of you that want to know), when I say the following:
"We can never grab onto the air and hold onto it. We have to do the actions that give us the effect, not go for the effect itself. The second we start thinking about making sound, we're in trouble. We go to try and make the sound, instead of creating the environment for the sound to happen. If we create the environment for it, freedom is there."
Wow. That makes so much sense as a vocalist. Usually the biggest thing that keeps a singer from reaching the full potential of their voice is that something is getting in the way of their breath fully releasing. As sinful human beings, we are all control freaks. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's true. I have seen this carry over into the practice room, the stage, the ensemble, friendships, school, etc. etc. We would choose control over what is best for us. Why live by faith when you can live by sight? Why trust someone or something else when you can just "believe in yourself"?
Let me substitute the word "life" in place of the words relating to the breath.
"We can never grab onto our life and hold onto it. We have to do the actions that give us the effect, not go for the effect itself. The second we start thinking about living a good life, we're in trouble. We go to try and make a good life, instead of creating the environment for it to happen. If we create the environment for it, freedom is there."
Crazy. God does not call us find our life, but rather lose it for His sake (Matthew 10:39). When we see the flaws and inconsistencies in our life, we can't just decide to "be better". All of our good works are as filthy rags. We will continue to be discouraged as long as we are trusting solely in ourselves to live a better life.
We do not go for the effect, but rather the actions that give us the effect. What are these actions? Meeting with God, praying for the Holy Spirit to enter your life and change you from the inside out. Your focus becomes not on being a better person but rather on letting God invade every part of you and making you like Himself. We must create the environment for spiritual fruit to happen, and not try and make it out of nothing ourselves. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 says, "I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."
It's amazing to see that when we give our life over to Christ, everything that we once attributed to ourselves becomes nothing. Our personality, our likes and dislikes, and experiences, all fade away in the light of Christ that shines so brilliantly through us. Just as we have to stay out of the way of our breath when we sing and let it fully release, we have to stay out of the Holy Spirit's way and let Him do His work.
"Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way!"