Practice part 2
Here's a movie line for you, because you know how much I love movies: "You know how you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice." And while yesterday I was talking about practicing what you preach in order to not be one of those judging, hypocritical "Christians" people are so quick to holler at... today I want to talk about how practice makes perfect. And that seems to be an idea we lose sight of so often. We expect people to be "perfect" all of the time. And by "perfect" we mean doing whatever WE want them to do at the time. We don't give people room to be... people. And that's not ok. Because people are going to be who they are no matter what you want them to be. Or do. So putting expectations on people is going to frustrate US more than anything else. I don't think there's any better way to set ourselves up for disappointment than to have expectations. And its not ok to not let people be people because THEY will get frustrated with US. Resentful. And then they will run FROM us (and God) instead of running TO us (and God). So when someone is new at something... maybe give them time to figure it out. Give them grace to grow. Don't slam them for making mistakes. Because let me ask you this: How can someone learn from their mistakes if they never make any mistakes? And if someone is afraid of making mistakes... how are they ever going to be able to try anything? Trust me. I know this from experience. My kid doesn't want to do something unless he can do it right. And that's really hard. Because most of the time you have to do something wrong BEFORE you can do it right. Learning. Growing. Practice makes perfect. Maybe you tried to forgive someone and it turned out you were still pretty raw about it. That doesn't mean you give up on forgiveness. It means you need some practice. And I've heard the idea that when you ask God for something (patience, for example) He gives you opportunites to do that thing. Opportunities to be patient. So you can learn by doing. Doesn't mean you'll do it right the first time (or every time, for that matter), but as long as you're moving forward it doesn't matter how fast you go. And even if you take some backwards steps--it happens--you can still get back on the right track. You can let what's inside come out. Even if its sloppy at first. Even if it doesn't go the way you think it will, or the way you think it should. Don't give up just because you're not a black belt master right away. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. And you have to LEARN how to do things right. And--watch this now--learning by doing is a good way to go... but a more excellent way is telling a master teach you. That's what a disciple of Jesus is; a student of love. Learning how to love as we learn how we are loved. Letting Jesus love the hell out of us so we can love the hell out of each other. Filling ourselves to overflowing with the love that we've been loved with. Practice what you preach. But don't get discouraged if (when) you mess up. Because practice makes perfect. Learn from your mistakes. Don't beat yourself up over them. And let other people do the same. Don't beat people up over mistakes. Teach them how to love... by loving them. Teach YOURSELF how to love by loving people!