On Practice and Perseverance
or being in it for the long haul
Quick fixes are the order of the day for most of us when we find ourselves struggling to keep up with All The Things. We scour the internet for the latest and greatest life hacks that will help us pull all the pieces together and give us more time or make things run more smoothly.
But what we often forget is that even with all the best tips and tricks in the book we still have to show up and do the things, not just once, but over and over again.
Quick fixes, miracle cures, instant success — sometimes they can really happen, but mostly they are nothing more than sirens calling us to impossible feats that leave us feeling de-feated when we can’t measure our progress in instant terms.
It’s so tempting to leave the path we’re called to walk for the sake of chasing after an elusive ideal. We find ourselves disappointed and discouraged when change isn’t happening as fast as we want to see it, so we go looking for it somewhere else.
But more often than not the work we are called to isn’t so much about change as it is about faithfulness.
It took Noah a hundred years to build his Ark; log upon log he dragged to the construction. Do as he did; drag log upon log to your construction, patiently, in silence, day after day…
When we hear something like that it is worth our while to ask ourselves questions such as these:
Am I willing to do the work day after day?
Am I willing to do it when I don’t feel like it?
Am I willing to keep going when it’s hard? When my muscles (real or metaphorical) cramp and my back aches? When I’m totally exhausted and I’d rather give up?
Am I willing to go on and on (and on) in obedience, even when I can’t see the fruit of my labors?
Am I willing to get up when I fall and try again?
If we are willing to persist and persevere, we eventually find that we develop increased capacity and tolerance for doing things that initially seemed impossible. And if we do it long enough we’ll find ourselves more proficient and capable than we thought possible.
Enjoyment increases with proficiency
Proficiency comes with practice.
Practice becomes more pleasant as proficiency increases.
May we all be granted the strength and the will to persevere and increase our capacity for doing the hard work we are called to.