PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT?

“When you present grain as an offering to the Lord, the offering must consist of choice flour. You are to pour olive oil on it, sprinkle it with frankincense, and bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. The priest will scoop out a handful of the flour moistened with oil, together with all the frankincense, and burn this representative portion on the altar. It is a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”  (Leviticus 2:1-2 NLT)

Musical perfection does not exist. We were taught “practice makes perfect” --  that’s a lie. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t try though!

I didn’t know this in my college years. Our grades depended on “perfection.” We worked for applause. And so, when notes went wrong, even if the error was small, to me it was failure. That’s even tougher for a church musician. You get one shot, but end up reliving the mistake. I couldn’t even take a compliment, because I focused on the flaw. You know that’s pride, right?

It’s taken quite a few years to unlearn that. For me, practice is like gathering up the grain for an offering to the Lord. The more I practice, the more “choice grain” is chosen. I don’t hastily throw it in, just to fill it up. While the world only sees those magical five minutes, … hours, weeks, months have preceded. I want my basket to be filled with the BEST I can give. The work isn’t for people….. it’s for the Lord.

The gift I receive in return is that I no longer focus on the flaws because I KNOW He’s deemed it WORTHY. 

 -- Allie Sewell McGuire

#6406

DOING WHAT JESUS SAYS

It is easier to be smart than to be good. You don’t need to know more from the Bible; you just need to do what you already know. We don’t become doers on our own, of course. As we read the Scripture, we ask the Spirit to help us understand what to do in response, and the intersection of what the Scriptures teach and how our lives unfold will give us a never-ceasing stream to actually do what Jesus says. And when we forget, another chance will come along.

I was picking up a prescription one Saturday afternoon before a church service, and because I was in a hurry, I had called the night before to make sure it would be there. But when I got there, the man behind the counter told me it wouldn’t be ready until the next week. Apparently there was a mix-up between the medical people, the insurance people, and the pharmaceutical people.

“But I’ve got to have it,” I replied. I was scheduled to leave the United States the next day. “Well, it’s not ready,” the clerk said. “But the automated system told me last night it would be ready today,” I retorted. “There is a flaw in the automated system then,” he told me.

All of a sudden I felt unbelievable anger well inside me. A flaw in the system? I wanted to say, There’s a flaw in you! I didn’t say that, because people from my church might have been around. (That is an occupational hazard of being a pastor.) But with every gesture and tone that I could, I expressed contempt and irritation with the man behind the counter. I didn’t simply feel anger, I wanted to feel it. I indulged it. I wanted to make him feel small. I was amazed at my own ugliness.

When I returned to the church, I opened a Bible in my office and read a single phrase -- “love one another” -- and had to call a friend to tell him there was an inner jerk inside me that’s scary.

Then, after I got back from my trip, I went to the pharmacy to tell the man behind the counter I was sorry for being so irritated and how much I appreciated his help. And I was back in the flow.  

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want To Be” 

#5630

PRAYER AND SPECIFIC ACTIONS

Saint Paul speaks of praying “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

It is not as hard as it sounds, really. You merely learn to be aware of God’s presence with you all the time, whatever you are doing.

A friend who commutes to work says that he sits and communes with God every time he stops at a traffic light. You can do it every time you open the refrigerator. Or when you brush your teeth.

The point is simply to turn your thoughts toward God at many specific times each day.

One way to do this is to practice remembering God when you are performing one specific action all week. When you are making the bed, for instance. Or setting the table. Or checking your mail. Or walking to school. Then, for the next week, pick another action.

-- John Killinger in Beginning Prayer

#3651

UNEXPECTEDLY AND IRRESISTIBLY APPEALING

The ministry of Jesus is grounded in personal practices. Jesus' life is marked by prayer, solitude, worship, reflection, the study of Scripture, conversation, community, serving, engagement with suffering, and generosity. These personal practices sustained a ministry that opened people to God's grace, transformed human hearts, and changed the circumstances of people in need. Jesus modeled going away to quiet places, spending time in the Temple, and listening for God. Jesus spoke to the woman at the well; the tax collector in the tree; the rich young ruler on the road; the paralyzed man beside the pool; to the lepers and the blind and the widowed and the wealthy; to Mary and Martha and Peter and John. He held a child in His arms, noticed the woman who touched His rob, healed a soldier's servant, ate with sinners, told stories to Pharisees, and blessed the thief beside Him on the cross. He intervened to challenge unjust systems that abused vulnerable people, overturning the money changers' tables and dispersing those ready to kill a woman accused of adultery. He connected people to God, opened their hearts and minds to God's kingdom, invited them to follow in His steps, and set them on the path toward God. Jesus knitted them into community, interlaced their lives with one another by the Holy Spirit, and wove them into the body of Christ, the church. By example and story, by lessons and parables, and by inviting them into ministry and sending them out in His name, He taught them to practice and live the ways of God. Jesus made maturing in faith and growth toward God unexpectedly and irresistibly appealing.

-- Robert Schnase in Five Practices of Fruitful Living

 
#2778

THE PRAXEIS OF DAILY REFLECTION

NOTE: Today, March 29, 2011 marks the 12th anniversary of the founding of this SOUND BITES Ministry™. SOUND BITES was begun on March 29, 1999 in memory of our son, Dustin, on the first anniversary of his death. SOUND BITES is THE PRAXEIS OF DAILY REFLECTION, as today's quote from Bishop Robert Schnase describes.


On this 12th anniversary, we would value hearing from you and learning how the Spirit is using this "practice" of SOUND BITES to minister to you, or how you use it to minister to others. You may comment below. You can view other comments here as well. 2737 quotes have been sent since beginning SOUND BITES, and now it is reaching close to 1950 subscribers directly and many, many more as a forward or through this blog. SOUND BITES reaches every state in the U.S. as well as 17 foreign countries that we know of.

Thank you for your support for this practice of daily reflection, and for sharing SOUND BITES with others.

Blessings, in Christ…

Rev. Dave Wilkinson, Deacon
SOUND BITES Ministry™
First United Methodist Church
Green Bay, Wisconsin


THE PRAXEIS OF DAILY REFLECTION

When we talk about marks, characteristics, or qualities of fruitful living, we too easily fall into a “we have it or we don’t” mode of thinking. It is more helpful to speak of practices that anyone can adopt, change, develop, begin, or improve upon. If we’re not the kind of person we think God intends for us to become, we simply begin to act like it by adopting the practices until they help us become a new person in Christ living fruitfully.

The Greek word for the Book of Acts is praxeis apostolon, or Acts of the Apostles. Praxeis is the Greek word from which we derive the English word practice. Thus, the Book of Acts is about the happenings and doings of the early church! The practice of Intentional Faith Development puts us in the most advantageous place to perceive and receive God’s activity and will for our lives. We become something new in Christ.

Intentional Faith Development refers to all the ministries that help us grow in faith outside of weekly worship… By these practices we mature in faith; we grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of God. We pray that we are closer to Christ today than we were five years ago, and that by the grace of God, we may be closer to Christ five years from now than we are today.

Intentional refers to deliberate effort, purposeful action, and high priority. Growing in grace does not come without purposeful commitment to learning the faith and cultivating our love for God.

-- Robert Schnase from www.fivepractices.org


#2738