Practice Makes Perfect
Practice makes perfect, but nobody’s perfect, so why practice? This is an age old conundrum. It seems like such a catch-22 that to get really great at something, you have to practice, practice, practice…only to find that you’ll never be perfect. In fact, the more you practice, the more you see that perfection is impossible. For example, I’ve been playing the guitar for 20 years. In college I used to play at least 6 hours a day. I was always the best among my peer guitarists. And I thought I was great. Then I’d go to a concert at UAB to see a group like the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and I’d realize that there’s always better players out there. There will always be people with more natural talent, and/or people who played 8 hours a day instead of just 6. In the grand spectrum of all guitarists worldwide, I was not that good! God was playing a cruel joke on me! Why would I have so much drive to be the best if I could never actually be the best? Let alone be a flawless player? And how could I sell myself as a player/singer if I knew that I wasn’t the best? So I gave up.
You might find it hard to believe but when we lived in Nashville, I never played my guitar for anyone, or with anyone. I worked an office job for an electrical company, and most people never knew that I was a musician. In fact, I only played once every few months for 30 minutes or so and that’s it. Something that had been such a huge part of my life was now collecting dust. And it was all because I was afraid. Afraid that my best wasn’t good enough simply because I wasn’t perfect.
Fast forward a few years and here we are at Southwood. Now I have to play music with people and for people every Sunday, whether it’s perfect or not. I don’t have time to be afraid because every week there’s another Sunday morning. This fact has been monumental in helping me move forward. Just being forced to put myself out there has been the start of an unburdening process. It has renewed my hope and reconnected me with the original reasons I wanted to become a musician. God is merciful to me in this way.
His mercy extends farther than I realize, and through it I’ve seen how this same type of slavery exists in other areas of my life. This has been on my heart for 2010. I know in my mind that perfection is impossible. Only Jesus was perfect. But in my heart I still believe I can be perfect. So I’ve selected an area of my life where I see this bondage has taken root, and I’m making it my new year’s resolution to address this one area. I’m not confident in composing lyrics to songs. I worry and fret and tweak the words I write, and it prevents me from writing at all most of the time. I’ve resolved to take the relief I’ve experienced through my job at Southwood and bring it to lyric writing. I am forcing myself to write a song a week, perfect or not, and show it to a group of peers. I am sure that some of the songs will be good, and some of them will not be very good. But that’s ok. I’ll be moving forward either way.
I hope this brief look into my life is helpful to some of you. Here is my encouraging word for 2010: practice doesn’t actually make perfect. Practice DOES make one a more confident risk taker though. So venture off the reservation this year, and practice taking some good risks for the kingdom. It can be something big, or something small, but I’d say if it stretches you out of your comfort zone, it’s probably a good thing.