Around 350,000 psi

 

Guitar strings break at tensile strains starting at 350,000 psi (per square inch). With one small rotation of a tuning peg, a guitarist can go from music to fracture if their strings are already too tight. How about you? Are you making music, or, are you carrying around broken strings?

Actually, 349,999 psi of tensile strain on guitar strings is already too high. The high pitch of tight strings hums their displeasure. A trained guitarist knows he or she needs to back off the string tension.

I hope you see the analogy to your life. Like a guitar string, some tension in your life may be acceptable, but, hypertension is bad. The opera of your life can come to a string snapping end when operated close to the breaking point. “Holy, holy, we adore Him” becomes a-cappella blues in no time flat.

Get your tuner (the bible) out. Turn to the chapter on string adjustment.

Start adjusting; Notice, that the first instruction is to take a break. The master tuner, God, took a day of rest after six. (Genesis 2:2 ) His lesson is that we do the same (Exodus 20:8-11). Some guitarists and musicians, a.k.a. Preachers, suggest your day of rest be Saturday; Saturday is the seventh day of the week. Other amateurs and hobby musicians like myself aren’t as sure. The principle of resting at least one day of every week helps ensure your strings aren’t too tight. I’m less sure that the rest day has to be Saturday. (that's a lengthy discussion for later)

Step two for tuning your life strings for music involves a tuning specialist. His ear knows your life’s pitch. He hears if you’re too high, with too much tension, or too low, with too little tension. You do need to attach the pitch apparatus to your strings. Once attached, the specialist will tell you if you should tighten or loosen your tuning peg.

How do you attach the apparatus? Simple, tell the specialist where you think your pitch is, high or low. This is also referred to as prayer. The instruction book says it this way; “Cast your burdens on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved” (Psalms 55:22). Translation, tell the Lord what is hard and what you need help with and let Him direct you so you don’t implode (strings break).

Step three; when the specialist (Jesus) says “more tension”, turn the knob up. When He says “less tension”, turn the knob down. More specifically, the instruction book says it this way; “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Here is the cheat sheet:

Weary and burdened => strings too tight

I will give you rest => I will loosen your strings

Take my yoke on you => make the proper adjustment so your

strings last

Learn from me => follow my instructions

My yoke is easy => He ensures your strings are not too tight

Congratulations

! If you’ve followed the tuning steps from the instruction book then, the strings of your life will be long-lasting and sound great! Don’t close the book though. The master’s book also has hundreds of pages of great music scores. If you are just learning to read sheet music, spend some time getting familiar with the master’s notations. Really good musicians, a.k.a disciples, train themselves chorus by chorus and verse by verse to know the master’s music well. Eventually, they know by muscle memory, or wisdom, where the master is headed in music and life.

Lastly, if you really want to sound good, let the master play your instrument. Let Jesus use your strings, your pick, your guitar, and life. I guarantee no one plays your instrument as well as He can. And, He can play your genre, BUT, your genre likes may change as you spend more time with Him.