Getting to Carnegie Hall

There is an old joke that goes like this.

A musician is walking down the street in New York and is stopped by a tourist who asks, "Can you tell me, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?  The musician looks back at the tourist and says, "Practice."

The saying goes that practice makes perfect.  I can't say that I really believe that, but I can say that practice makes BETTER. Even a small amount of practice can really help.  At events like weddings and high school graduation, there is a rehearsal the day before to work out some of the bumps.

Whether playing the piano or shooting free-throws, we understand that practice helps us keep and maintain our skills.  Some professions such as law and medicine are called "practices" with the idea that the experience refines and improves skills.  And while "just like ridding a bike" means that we can come back to it without practicing, professional bike racers get better by practicing all of the time.  The odd thing is that we usually associate practice with physical skills and not relational, emotional or spiritual ones.

For whatever reason, we tend to see internal traits involving relationships and emotions as being fixed parts of our personality and not skills to be improved upon.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  When I was getting married a friend gave me some advice,  He said that a lot of things would be pulling at our attention but for the first year of marriage we should be really selfish with each other, meaning spend time together.  Marriage, like so many other things, improves with practice.

And so it follows that our relationship with God improves with practice as well.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control.  These just don't happen but with a lot of practice and a healthy infusion of the Holy Spirit, we can get better at making them part of our life.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

Practice will not just get someone to Carnegie Hall but will help improve in many ways.  And as we progress on our journey with God, each step we take helps prepare us for the ones to come.