A life lesson from guitars

The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia has a great article on how guitars work. If you’re like me – and I sincerely hope you’re not – then you’d be curious as to just how that hunk of wood, steel, and plastic you cradle in your arms can produce such a sweet sweet sound.

One of the things I find amazing in a guitar – particularly a steel-string acoustic – is that its strings actually apply about 180 pounds of pressure on the structure. That means I who weigh 160 pounds can actually sit on the headstock of an unstrung guitar and the instrument would hold me up! In fact, for a guitar to produce a sound it has to have that kind of pressure on it; if not for the pressure a guitar would just be a hunk of wood, steel, and plastic.

And that’s kind of what life is all about, right? We all dream of living without pressure, without stress, without problems, but in reality these are the very things that allow us to be who we are. We are daily tested, and it is in how we respond to these tests that we see what stuff we’re made of. It is also in problems that we see how great God is. Jesus said: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Acts 14:22).

So if you feel like you can’t stand the pressure, look at your guitar. It’s constantly under pressure, and it may even show in how it looks, but because of that pressure it’s able to make beautiful music.