I Remember that Violin…

"Old Violin" by Benjamin Hope

I love pawn shops.  I frequently visit them looking for hidden treasures, great deals, cool stuff.  Most of the time I leave empty handed due to the…ahem…current financial crisis.  However, as I am discovering, I believe I love pawn shops for the same reason I like going to good music stores.  I love to play the instruments.

I am a stringed instrument nut, I love to play them, look at them, listen to them, feel them, and determine their value. No, I don’t mean their monetary value, but its value to me as the player.  No two instruments (even though made by the same luthier and with the same wood) sound alike.  Each one has its own “personality” for lack of a better term.  I have played $150 guitars made by mass producers, that for some reason sound fantastic, and I have played $3,000 guitars that though made of great wood, with a great name, and a great maker, for some reason fail to rise above the crowd, or are very hard to play.

It’s not always because of the instrument or its quality, many times it is because there was something specific in quality or tone that I wanted from the instrument.  It’s very hard to describe to someone who is not musically inclined, but when a musician finds an instrument that is “the one” he finds himself carried away on its music.  Hours seem like seconds, and every note feels almost rapturous. This is typically when those around him are also greatly affected without being able to put their finger on why. Even professional performers who are paid to use certain instruments on stage, have their own favorites. The instrument that they play before they go to bed at night, or the one that they use to perform for a loved one may be quite a different name, age, and appearance from the one that is used in front of people. The musician and the instrument are one, they are in tune with each other, and the instrument is fitted perfectly for the needs and demands of the musician.

While I was learning to play the fiddle, (I still am by the way), I’ll never forget a trip Dad and I made to the pawn shop in Bowie, TX when we saw an old beat up fiddle. It was scratched, the case was falling apart, and the top had a horrible gouge from the bow retainer.  It was just a student Karl Knilling violin.  Not worth much, and certainly not pretty.  I borrowed a bow from another case, and found some rosin for its hair. I made sure it was tuned up and held it up to play.  I’m not a great violinist, and many would not want to hear me play, but for some reason that old violin came alive and lit up the store.  If I could think a note it would sound out, clear, smooth, strong…It was wonderful and I fell in love with it.  My Dad stood back and stared at the violin with amazement, and the guy at the counter stopped fiddling with his pen for just a moment.  I don’t know very many songs so it didn’t take long for me to run out of things to play, and soon reality slipped in because I knew that we didn’t have the money for it, as cheap as it was.

I’m quite sure my Dad had tears in his eyes as we walked out of the store without it, ’cause he had learned to recognize that certain “something” that certain instruments have and he dearly longed for me to have it. I don’t have it, but I Remember that Violin…I’ll never forget it. My heart still stirs at the thought of the music it created.

I wonder if God is looking for instruments like that.  I wonder if He goes from church to church and tries to use this person or that, hoping for that certain “something” when He picks him up.  Its not that He’s looking for valuable people, or talented people, or beautiful people.  He’s looking for that disciple who is attuned to His desire. The disciple that responds to His every movement, one who when He thinks a thought the disciple responds and the heart of the great God is revealed, clear, smooth, strong… he is one with the Master Artist.

Let me tell you, no matter the age, talent, or beauty of a person, when he is in touch with God, those around him will be affected by His ‘music’ even though they may not be able to put their finger on why.  Like God, their heart is stirred, and they will remember that person and that moment long after.

One day, like me and that lowly, beat up violin from the pawn shop, we’ll see the great Judge of all the earth pick out one soul in the mass of His disciples, and I think He’ll say, “I Remember that Violin…”

Be that one…

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Gen 5:24 (KJV)