Practice Makes Perfect
“Practice makes perfect. After a long time of practicing, our work will become natural, skillfull, swift, and steady.” ~ Bruce Lee
The other afternoon, I decided to change views. I had been working in the office for quite a while and was beginning to go stir crazy. So, I thought, why not continue to work; but, outside? I turned off my office light and went across the parking lot to the house. I got my laptop, grabbed my parish extension phone, and plopped on the deck of the house.
I was doing my office work from the deck when, about a half hour after school, the high school baseball players hit the field to practice. They were running laps to warm up and then split into different groups for batting practice or catching practice. The only person that was doing anything consistently was the guy who was hitting the balls to the different positions. He would hit grounders or fly balls and expect them to be fielded or caught and returned back to the second baseman as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Hmmm. Define “quick”. Even more, define “efficient”. Some of those balls got away from the guys. Others were thrown wild and overshot the guy on second base.
But, you know what? That’s life. Pure and simple. Life is not executed perfectly on the very first try. It takes practice after practice after practice. Some of the things that we do will please us. Others will indicate that there is still much more that needs to be done.
In the end, it all depends upon how hard we are willing to work.
What works for baseball works for our faith life as well. Prayers to not always come easy. When we are young, it is hard to memorize the words. As we get older, it is hard to make time to pray or, if we make time, to get the words out. Our faith life takes persistence. We are not going to nail it on the first try. We have to work at it over and over and over again.
If you’re not happy with your faith life, get out and try again. Practice makes perfect. Don’t avoid. Do.
FAITH ACTION: If there is something in your faith life/prayer life that is difficult, work on it today so that you will become more proficient at it.