Because This is What Achievement Really Looks Like

"So what was it like?" I asked her. "Did you feel comfortable? Or was it distracting and challenging at all?"

I was asking this question to a retired woman I have been teaching piano to for the past few years. She had a heart that yearned to serve. Even amid the frenzy of tending to a husband with multiple serious health problems, keeping up with her grown children and grandchildren in another state, she carried a determination I wish all of us could hold on to. The fact that she was only one of a few adult students in an academy of mostly children did not deter her. Deep within her heart, she felt certain that she needed to help with the music at her small church in a nearby community. She came weekly for a piano lesson, her books open to the hymn she was currently working on, and even signed up for voice lessons for the Sundays she could help lead the singing.

Although her church always welcomed her musical participation, time after time I had to push and prod to convince her to even walk up to the piano at her church and play prelude music as the worshipers walked in. So when she told me recently that she had played at her church, not just background music, but for the congregation to sing along with, I was ecstatic.

"So how did it go?" I asked excitedly.

"Well," she said good-naturedly, "I missed every other note."

I laughed and answered back, "So that means you got every other note right, doesn't it?!"

Then she answered my other question.
Since she was unaccustomed to playing as an accompanist, I asked how playing for a congregation to sing along with had gone. Had it been easy, and did everything go smoothly? Or was it distracting and challenging at all?

"Yes," she stated firmly. "It was awkward, uncomfortable, distracting, and difficult."

I laughed at her honest answer but freely gave her the compliment she deserved:
It was awkward, uncomfortable, distracting, and difficult---
but she had plans to do it again next week.

I smiled---because this is exactly what it is all about.

This is what jumping out of our boat of safety is usually like.
This is what stepping beyond our comfort zone is usually like.
This is what attempting a new goal,
following a dream no one else understands,
accepting a challenge we're not sure we're qualified for,
learning to interact with people who aren't just like us,
or following some inner pull of our heart that only God could have planted within us..
is usually like.

Her attempt was victorious,
because success does not necessarily mean attempting a challenge fearlessly---
with no sweat, tears, or butterflies in our stomachs---
and executing it smoothly and flawlessly.

Achievement is often choosing to do what is
awkward, uncomfortable, distracting, and difficult---

then signing up to do it again next week.