Heart Over Matter

The Jun. 1, 2016 edition of CCM Magazine

When I was a music student at Belmont University in the late-‘90s-early ‘00s, one of my instructors introduced us to a book called The Inner Game Of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey. Although I also enjoy tennis, at the time, it was a head-scratcher as to why our percussion teacher was using it as suggested material.

Back then, I bypassed it, but the suggestion stuck with me over the years, so I finally gave it a read some time after I graduated. There’s no specific correlation between playing tennis and playing the drums in the book, in fact, the direct relation of tennis to anything else is the premise—our conscious mental capacities get in our way, if we can quiet our minds and learn to trust our instincts more, we will have more success in anything we do.

I recalled this as we were interacting with Seth Mosley of Full Circle Music for this edition of CCM Magazine. If you’re a fan of Christian music then you’re already familiar with Seth’s work and influence within the industry. While he collaborates with some of the most successful individuals across all musical genres and sheds light on those experiences though his Full Circle Music Show podcasts, as I listen to those, I begin to feel like I’m reading Inner Game all over again.

Then I found myself asking, “When do I allow my own self to get in the way of what God is doing?” and “How can I grow my soul so my mind won’t take over?” Inner Game is a great book, I’ll probably read it many times. Further into this edition of CCM, Mosley suggests some great books for those wanting to learn more about the music business. For the questions above, for my life, I found myself going back to this simple verse: Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. (Psalm 119:11 NKJV).

I’ve been challenged—no matter what we do, let’s remember to keep implanting the Word of God into our hearts. When we get out of the way (like me, have you a prayed that prayer often?), I want it to be the Word that takes over!

Blessings,