Practice

Well, I haven't written in weeks.  I really like my blog, and enjoy writing it.  It's kind of like keeping a scrapbook.  I enjoy having my camera with me to snap pictures of things that strike me as beautiful or thought provoking, and I like coming home and taking a few minutes to write about what I experienced.  I started this blog last spring, and have posted about once a week or even more since then - until July.   With vacation and other schedule changes, I got out of practice and here it is a month since I last wrote.

It strikes me that most things of value in life require practice, whether you're talking about learning how to play an instrument, becoming good at a craft, or learning how to be a good spouse, friend or parent.  Doctors and lawyers and other professionals call their work their "practice," because skill and wisdom increase with repeated experience - or practice.  And of course, people of faith put many spiritual practices into their lives - doing things like praying, worshipping, studying and performing acts of service regularly - in order to get closer to God and deepen in their faith.

While it takes effort to practice, practice adds up and you get to keep it under your belt.  Though you get rusty when you fall out of practice, you can, with renewed effort, get back and pick up your practice again.  Take running for example.  This summer has been wicked hot, as we say in NH.  Since the heat hit, I have not run three times a week as I did last spring, and I think if I tried to run a 5K tomorrow, I'd certainly have to walk some of it.  But last week, I started walking regularly again.  I don't know if I'll be running like I was last spring any time again soon - or ever.  But I am now back to enjoying the feeling of moving my body down the trail, even if I only break into a run every now and then.

I have often set ambitious goals for myself in life (like running in that 5K last May.)  So I think it's important for me to remember that practice is different than achievement.  Practice is not the means to an end - it is the way I live my life everyday. 

My oldest son, Orion, was a magnificent cello player throughout his youth.  In fact, when he was in high school, he began working with a world class cello teacher who told him he had what it took to be a professional orchestral cellist in an elite orchestra.  "But," the teacher said, "you're going to have to practice 2-3 hours a day for the next two years to get ready for conservatory.  Not many people have this opportunity - or your talent - but I can help you do it if you decide it's what you want."  Orion was deeply impacted by his teacher's invitation to be a cello star, and he began working very hard.  He did practice 2 -3 hours a day that fall, even though you could tell it was like pulling teeth for him some days.  Finally that winter he said to me one day, "I know not many people have this opportunity, but this just isn't me."  He decided a life as a classical cellist was not what he wanted.  Now he spends his time doing a different kind of music.  He is a songwriter and guitarist with his own band.  (http://therockefellerfortune.bandcamp.com/) 

Practicing the cello 2-3 hours was a monumental effort for Orion - something that took incredible self will to maintain and something that made his life feel like it was not his own, but someone else's.  But once he made the switch from classical music to indie folk/rock, he never stopped practicing.  His guitar was practically attached to his body and now he probably plays 2-10 hours a day without giving it a second thought.  Though obviously Orion's practice still takes effort, it is no longer a struggle.  Instead, practice is part of who he is as a human being.  And as a result, his music just keeps getting better and better.  In the end, I admired that he gave cello as a profession a good try, and I also admired that when he realized it wasn't right for him, he let it go. Giving things a try and letting things that are not working go are both important skills we will all be invited to practice over and over in life.

I'm learning more and more every day, in my own practice of life, that forcing myself into a discipline I think I "should" be doing or sacrificing today for the hope of some future goal I think I "should" reach is not what I'm called to do either.  The way I want to practice my life is to willingly engage with the world and live as only I can  - discerning every day how to be more and more what God created me to be.  It often takes quite a bit of effort to joyfully follow God's will for me - it is a practice that often stretches and challenges me. But the more I practice, the more it becomes just who I am.

Lenten Thoughts - Week 5

Being faithful means more that just 'believing right' or 'thinking right.' Thoughts and stated beliefs only go so far. Until your thoughts and beliefs are embodied in your life, your faith doesn't add up to much more than an idea. In other words, you have to do more than think the think. You've got to walk the walk of faith. In Lent, we're challenged to get walking. We're invited to intentionally add things to our daily routine that bring us closer to God and also to intentionally remove things from our regular routines so as to open up more room for God to enter our lives. Lent is about allowing God to take the wheel of our lives. It is about getting out of ourselves. It's about letting go and letting God. In our Eucharistic prayers during Lent we say, "God, You bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts, and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast." These words have caught my attention this year, because I know there are many ways to cleanse the heart, and I am encouraged to think that my Lenten preparations are to be done with joy.

So this brings me to Steve - who this week stopped thinking about the rotting corner of our porch and decided to get to work. He's been thinking about it since we moved in last summer. He's looked at it from many angles. He's drawn up diagrams and made supply lists. He's considered the many options. But this week, suddenly, he said, "You know, pretty soon the bugs will be out. I'm just going to do it." And from morning until after dark he went at it. He set up the circular saw, he went to the hardware store, he pulled out all of his beloved power tools and dug in.

There's nothing my husband loves more than a handyman project. It's a way that he gets out of himself. It's one of his 'timeless' activities - those things that take you up so completely that you just lose track of time doing them. This happens to me whenever I write or sew. And I believe that when you do the things that you enjoy so much you lose track of time, you are closer to God. After all, God planted our desires and talents within us in the first place. So even though it's common to think of Lent as a time to deny yourself, maybe spending more time doing the things you really love is one way to practice Lent. It's a way to fast from your usual "have to's" and to make room for God to enter your life through creativity and timeless joy.

So, inspired by his porch project, I think I'll put other tasks from my to do list on the back burner this afternoon and go out and start working in my yard. Pruning is definitely one of my timeless activities. I hope I will find God, and God will find me out in the overgrown forsythia bushes.