Another lesson in Perseverance

     Back in July, I was trying to figure out the perfect present for my younger brother, Timothy.  One evening, we watched a certain youtube video that the PianoGuys had made, featuring Jarrod Radnich playing the Pirates of the Carribean theme song.  Timothy was amazed and inspired by this rendition, and finally asked my parents to get him some Pirates of the Carribean music.

     After a little thinking, my parents and I decided to get him the sheet music composed by Jarrod Radnich.  We were pretty sure it would be too difficult for Timothy, but thought he would enjoy, and be able to actually play it someday.  On his birthday after receiving the sheet music, Timothy immediately sat down at the piano, trying to figure out the first few measures.

     Over the next few days, we would find him at the piano, striving diligently to be able to play the piece.  I sat down a few times to sight-read the music, but gave up after about five minutes.  Yet Timothy persevered, practicing every day until the rest of us finally got annoyed with the song and left the room every time he began to play it!

     It took him three months, but he learned it well enough to play for a group lesson in October.  Our piano teacher was surprised and happy with his progress, and that he had taken the initiative to learn such a difficult piece on his own!

 

     All of this to say that I have a lot to learn from my little brother.  His dedication and diligence to excel when it comes to piano practice has inspired me to do better in persevering when it comes to challenges in my own life.  Thank you God, for the lessons you teach me, even through my younger siblings!
 

A few lessons learned...

     Life has been busy.  Between taking classes at a local community college, teaching the grade-school children's group at church on Wednesday nights, getting my drivers license (finally!!!), and various other small (but very important) things, I haven't had much time to post.  But I have had the opportunity to grow and learn.

     One of things that I have learned over the last few months is how important it is to spend time walking with the Lord every day - no matter how behind I am in class, or how many other important things I have to do.  It's amazing just how quickly and easily my focus can slip away from glorifying God, and turn to glorifying my own selfish desires.  I've found that when I make a conscious effort to begin the day by praising God and studying His word, the rest of the day tends to go more smoothly.  That is not to say that nothing goes wrong!  I just have a different perspective on whatever happens, and try to see things from God's standpoint.

     I am very much enjoying the chemistry class I'm taking right now.  I have always thought that I would enjoy English class more than chemistry, but have found that the straight-forward answers in chemistry are more appealing to me than the critical thinking and mish-mash of ideas in English.  This is probably due to the fact that nearly all of the literary works and authors we are studying come from secular worldviews, some of which are blatantly against the Christian worldview.  Still, I've spent hours discussing what we're learning in class with my father and brother, and have learned several lessons in perseverance.  Even when it seems like nothing makes sense, and hours of intense reading and critical thinking lie a head, it is important to dive straight in and begin working somewhere.  Simply thinking about doing something difficult often makes the job seem quite a bit worse than what it actually is!