Passionate Practice

I just tread a blog post that I absolutely adore. I haven’t perused the rest of the blog yet so I can’t recommend it as a whole, but this particular post was amazing. This guy gets it.  It was titled, “Why I Took Four Violin Lessons and Quit” and he discussed why he purposefully took four classes and quit…he wanted to experience the violin, not join an orchestra.  His bottom line is this:

"As long as you have ridiculously high goals for one or two things, it's okay to set really embarrassingly low goals for other things. In fact, that helps you stay focused on your big goals."

I think this is complete, 100% fabulousity – and if more of us held this mindset, we would be happier, healthier people.  See, he’s not a quitter – he went in with a low goal. And he accomplished it and continues to enjoy it.

So many times in my life I am tempted *out* of something because I don’t know if I’m ready to be awesome at that. I don’t know if I have the energy or the fortitude to diligently work at the awesomeness.  I’m 37 years old and I have been taking swimming lessons for seven months. I haven’t been invited to the Olympic trials yet. I’ve been to the deep end exactly…twice. With a pool noodle. I’m told the water isn’t even over my head. But by the end of most lessons, my stomach hurts from all the giggling throughout my lesson.  I’m not sure if I’ll make it to the Olympics – I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to save myself if someone throws me in a pool. Right now, my long term goal is to be able to swim laps – someday. That actual date is ambiguous because I’m having such a blast getting there, I might not ever arrive.

When I first moved overseas, I chose the opportunity because it was smaller than any of the others I’d seen. I could live on base (aka Little America) and the tour was originally about half the time of any other tour length.  It was a low goal that I knew I could accomplish, thereby opening the opportunity for me to really enjoy it.  I’m enjoying it so much, that I’ve actually started to ask myself if I want to extend my time overseas.

I can tell you one thing, though – my ridiculously high goal, is this – to become more like Christ each day. This is a goal that I know I will never attain completely, but also one that I will never give up reaching for.  Another goal, is to bring glory to God every day. I know I fail at this daily and I’m so thankful my Father is forgiving.

So while I am dedicatedly pursuing these higher goals, I am also really enjoying what some would consider to be embarrassingly low goals…I’m enjoying tasting this life God has given me, and so much of what it has to offer…and I’m thinking I just might want to learn to play the violin!

Love y'all!
~M~