Over-Practice

Ed Welch:

When in doubt, over-practice.

Musicians face this all the time. They set out to learn a piece of music. At some point they nail it. They play through the entire piece without mistakes. But then, just when we think that they should move on to master the next piece, they practice some more. Why? Because every musician knows that there is a big difference between practicing and performing. What our fingers do effortlessly in the privacy of the practice room is not the same as what they will do in a performance. Fingers have been known to betray us when people are watching. So, concert musicians practice until their fingers play the piece no matter what the circumstances.

When in doubt, over-practice. It is one of life’s basic rules.

We go to church and hear the same thing. Jesus died for sins and is now risen. Okay, got it. Now I don’t need to pay attention too much. Occasionally I will perk up when the preacher inserts a new insight from biblical history. I like the illustrations but they are more for entertainment. Intellectual mastery is all I need. (I teach at a seminary, and I have found that seminary students are experts at this line of thought). Read the Bible? I’ve read it before. I know the basic gist of it. Nothing new.

Then it comes time to “perform”.

The performance takes place in thousands of different venues. Disappointment at work or school, frustration with a roommate or spouse, broken relationships, health fears, a computer with pornography just a few characters and clicks away, discord at church, rebellious kids. The list goes on. And, all of a sudden, we are all thumbs.

We need to over-practice. Here are a few ways.

Go here to read the rest. But I can't resist pasting part of his application here:

I can see a style of thought in myself that goes something like this. If my “thankful” list is longer than my “complaint” list, then I am on the right path. The problem is that I can have dozens of items on the thankful list and only one on the complaint list, and the severity of the complaint outweighs everything I am thankful for. Only the blessings we have received in Christ are weighty enough to counterbalance those especially hard events of life. But these blessings in Christ won’t outweigh our difficulties unless we over-practice reciting them.