A guitar story as a metaphor for life? You’re obviously talking to a guitarist.
This past weekend I took a trip up to Arlington for something I try to do every year. No, I didn’t go watch the Cowboys play at home and whoop up on the Giants. That would have been fun!
I went to the annual Arlington Guitar show in search of an elusive part for a guitar I have been working on. As I made my way through endless aisles of beautifully crafted works of musical art, I always had that piece in mind.
And once I had exhausted my search for what can only be described as a “Part that just plain doesn’t exist!” I realized that I had gone through the entire 2 room show that filled a convention center, without really “seeing” any of the guitars.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I saw, touched, held and even played a few of them. I mean, it’s the GUITAR SHOW for cryin’ out loud!
But I didn’t lavish the attention on them that I would, had I not been in search for what seems to be the Holy Grail of guitar hardware.
How many times do we do that in our lives? Miss everything around us while trying to find something that ultimately is elusive. A real forest for the trees type scenario, right?
How often do we look for “our place in this world” to borrow a line from a certain popular 90’s Christian singer.
Why don’t we “make our place in this world” instead. Claim the location and time we are living in at this moment as our own, and choose to be active in addressing, appreciating, and living with a focus on where we are and what we are doing. (To paraphrase a certain green old man in a swamp)
It seems to me, and you can draw your own conclusions, that we individually need to wake up, rub the sleep from our eyes, and claim now for what it is. Our time and place in this world.
Now that that is said, I gotta go order a different part for this guitar, since I couldn’t find exactly what I needed.
Ben Cox is the host of “Ben Cox in the Morning” weekday mornings from 6 to 9 on KQBZ, 96.9 FM in Brownwood Texas. He is the in-stadium voice of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets football team and is also a mobile DJ for weddings, parties and the like. He can be contacted via this website.
The thoughts and comments reflected in this column are those of the writer alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Wendlee Broadcasting, or its affiliates.