Nailing The Details

Author - Emma Stanley

This week has been one of new opportunities and new routines! Arlie has decided to teach us Taekwondo and get us moving as we continue to put stories to our hand signs. I won't lie. It's been super fun but also very slow going as I've been trying to nail down the different techniques. As soon as I feel like I've gotten the hang of a move, Arlie stops us to critique and correct. Although I am ever so grateful for this, it's sometimes been daunting to completely change the structure of my moves.

After growing comfortable with how something feels, it's hard to get out of certain habits. You almost have to grow increasingly uncomfortable to then do things in a more effective, powerful, and stable manner. It's actually quite like our hand signs. We're often warned by Arlie about how we get lackadaisical. It affects how our message is perceived and passed on as we teach others the hand signs.

In the same way, as I grow fatigued or as the moves grow monotonous, I've put in less effort, which in turn has created bad habits that I will later have to break to be able to protect myself as needed. In the same way, as I share these hand signs and stories, they can become monotonous, and I very well could grow fatigued by the repetition, and when that happens, I forget their importance.

These stories are the history of our God, and the knowledge of them helps me understand more of who He is. We're given these stories for a very good reason, and to not take them seriously is to completely take advantage of the gift we've been given in them. So, I have to stay enthusiastic and put in the entirety of my efforts because these stories might be my only interaction with some people. We are priests by the blood of Christ, and as disciples and priests, we are to go forth and share the good news of great joy (Luke 2:10). I think we all can agree that with as important of a message as this, we must be as boisterous as possible in the delivery.

Speaking of stories and hand signs, we've finished all of Genesis and have been challenged to share these eight stories with whoever might bend an ear. This has been interesting, to say the least, because after stumbling through each story only a handful of times, I went out hoping to keep the words in the right order when put under the pressure of someone's listening ears. The people I have shared with thus far have been very attentive (mostly, if not all, because they are good friends or family and know that this is an assignment given by Arlie), yet I understand the reality that one day, I might be sharing these stories with people much less willing to listen. I'm only given one chance to get it right. Sounds pretty nerve-wracking, right? It is, if I forget the support I  have by abiding in the Holy Spirit. I often forget the Helper we have. It's something I'm having to remind myself and grow out of the habit of so I can abide. Abiding, I'm learning, is almost always the answer to "What's next?" or "How do I grow?" or "What can I do?" it's something I hear a lot of and yet still figuring out what it practically looks like. Isn't it funny how that works? We can have the answers and head knowledge to figure out what to do, but that's not enough to go on with; we have to learn how to apply it all, which is 9/10ths the most difficult part.

So, as we continue with the techniques, the critiquing, and the practicality of what we're learning, I will abide. Or at least continue to learn what it is to abide... and I pray that you all will join in prayer as we continue to learn and grow.