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Willie Nelson named his 1969 Martin N-20 “Trigger.”
I am not a guitar man, but I know good music when I hear it and I know something special when I see it. Trigger is special.
“Willie Nelson has been playing the same guitar, named Trigger, since 1969. He’s even worn a giant
Hole in it. He named Trigger after Roy Rogers’ horse.
“I figured,” Nelson said in Dallas Monthly, “this is my horse.”
Trigger has been Willie’s partner throughout most of his career. Willie bought the Martin N-20 in 1969. Trigger has been a big part of Nelson’s unmistakable sound ever since….
Mark Erlewine reconditions Trigger twice a year. When asked about the hole, Erlewine notes, “I always thought it enhanced the sound.”
It’s not the age or the miles. It’s the Master’s touch.
Two things make Trigger unique, one-of-a-kind, and an instrument of incalculable value:
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It’s in the right hands. Willie Nelson is one of the most prolific musical artists in history. He has written 337 songs. His song, “Crazy,” launched the career of Patsy Cline and dozens of his songs have made others both fame and fortune. His singular career has spanned six decades.
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It has been stressed into glory. Having its strings strummed and its casing rubbed by the knuckles of its passionate owner every single day for 51 years has broken it down. Inches from the hole by design is another not put there by the manufacturer. It is jagged and oblong. That “flaw” gives the aged and weathered guitar a sound all its own. Some experts believe that Trigger is the most valuable guitar in the world, monetarily speaking.
Your Master is better than Willie and you are more valuable and beautiful than Trigger.
“So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working with clay at the wheel. 4 He was making a pot from clay. But there was something wrong with the pot. So the potter used that clay to make another pot. With his hands he shaped the pot the way he wanted it to be.
Then this message from the Lord came to me: …You know that I can do the same thing with you. You are like the clay in the potter’s hands, and I am the potter. “This message is from the Lord.”
Do you see it? You are the clay. He is the potter. His masterful fingers press you into something that may for all the world appear terribly flawed, even broken. But it is His work. His instrument. His purpose. He makes no mistakes. You will never hear Him utter a holy, “Oops.”
The clay’s only role is to yield to the Master’s touch and trust His plan, to respond favorably and faithfully to His work in your life.
“You are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…”
This is one of my absolute favorite verses in the entire Bible. I love the words Paul uses to describe the meaning and majesty of the life of the believer. The word “workmanship” is from the Greek word “poiema.” We derive our English word “poem” from it.
Hey! You are HIS masterpiece. Of all the things the Creator has made – from the morning sunrise to the evening sunset, the mountains and the moon, the galaxies of countless heavenly bodies hurling through space, the butterfly and the buffalo, the hungry lion and the horned lizard, the desert and its haunting expanse and the rainforest teeming with colorful life, the hummingbird and the hawk, all of it – YOU are HIS masterpiece.
Jesus is the artist. You are the instrument. Your life is His song. Make it matter. Make it beautiful in its brokenness. If you must be triggered, be triggered by grace. If you must sing, sing unto the Lord a new song.
God bless, strengthen, and beautify you.
