Sufficient Courage

Personal Remarks

I have used the following story many times in my life, and those who know me well may have heard it before. But I need this reminder, and I will assume that this will be helpful to you as well. When my son Matt was a preschooler, he was able to pick out tunes on his toy xylophone, and we discovered he had an ability to “play by ear.” When he was in first grade, I and my husband, who plays the piano with some skill, decided it was time for Matt to learn to read notes. Unwittingly, at first we played the song for him, and of course, he could play it. But when we put music he had never heard before him, he would make mistakes and become frustrated because he could not play it perfectly by ear the first time. We had to wait until he was in third grade for him to have the maturity to handle making mistakes as he learned! As adults looking on, this seemed silly to become so frustrated, but I know too, even as an adult, I can become short with myself in making mistakes in the learning process. I, too, think I should be able to do it perfectly the first time.
For many, if not all of us, we have struggled with the same issues for long periods of time, from months to years. These struggles must be faced head on, with courage, and be covered with God's grace, because learning never occurs in a smooth, straight-forward fashion. We need to think, not in terms of pass / fail, but in terms of growth. Each “failure and setback” gives us new information on how to proceed. Our growth in these areas depends BOTH on our involvement and on HIS involvement that supplies resources beyond our own.