Practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation. -Anne Voskamp, “One Thousand Gifts.”
We Can Be Transformed – The Practice Series – Part 2
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6
The essence of Christianity lies in transformation. No matter how things look right now, there is hope that they can be transformed. That we can be transformed.
That I can be.
So we pray, and we declare, and we work hard, and we wait for the miracle. That immediate relief of resurrection.
Does anyone else get disappointed that they don’t have a rock hard 6-pack after only a week of ab work?
Transformations takes time. It takes practice. And while it involves repetition, practice is not only doing the same thing over and over again. Practice is giving yourself to the work again, and again, and again. Each time you do, it might look different from the last, feel different, behave differently – you might need to adjust, change patterns, look at it from it a different perspective. But yet you practice, engage and listen. Learning is most often done across a span of days, weeks, months… years.
Patience, dear one. Stay awake. Practice.
One day, Jesus was dead, and then suddenly (although we don’t really know how it happened), he wasn’t anymore. He came back to life. Instant? Miraculous?
But the resurrection on its own changes nothing – it’s just a great story.
We need to hear about Jesus birth – the incarnation; his anonymous years of training and learning and practice, and then his years of “ministry” – of revolution, disruption, and grace. We need to imagine ourselves around the table at Passover, breaking bread and drinking wine and hearing him talk of Kingdom and have him wash our feet. Then find him in the garden, sweating blood – his body wracked with stress and weight; watch as the centurions come and arrest him, taking him to an unfair trial conducted in the secrecy of night, sprinkled with bought witnesses and “mind already made up” judges.
Listen as the crowds beg for Barrabus and condemn him to death: the crowds his own countrymen. Then sit at the foot of the cross and watch hour after hour as his tortured body leaks breath and blood and life. Hear him say, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” with all the pain in the world dripping from his tongue. And then with devastated painful relief, listen to him breathe for the last time.
It's then that you realize that the resurrection was a long time in the making.
PRACTICE
What are you learning? Is it forgiveness? Is it a cooking style? (it all belongs). You’re a student, so don’t expect yourself to be a master. You are free to learn. Enjoy it.
Go to Part 3 – Daily Practice »
Written by Liz Milani. Find me:
[font_awesome link=”https://www.instagram.com/lizzy.milani/” icon=”instagram” color=”000″ size=”16px” margin_right=”” margin_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=””] lizzy.milani [font_awesome link=”https://www.twitter.com/lizzymilani/” icon=”twitter” color=”000″ size=”16px” margin_right=”” margin_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=””] lizzymilani
[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]