I’m going to sing for special music in church this Sunday.
On Monday I picked out a song by Twila Paris to sing and play on the piano. “Throne Room Suite” has beautiful lyrics, but the piano part is pretty intense.
No problem, I thought. I have all week to practice.
And I have practiced. I’ve played it several times each day. It’s gotten better since Monday, but I decided to admit defeat tonight. I just can’t get it ready by Sunday morning.
It pains me to do that, but I think it would pain everyone else a lot more to hear me struggling to play it in church.
Sometimes we have to admit defeat and pivot to something else instead of what we had planned.
We admit defeat in the moment, but we don’t have to feel defeated. We can keep working toward our goal, knowing that it’s just the timing that needs to change. The Holy Spirit will help us decide how and when we are ready to show the world our progress.
I’m not going to let this decision ruin the rest of my weekend. I might wait until Monday to start practicing “Throne Room Suite” again, but I’ll focus on how much I practiced this week and how the lyrics made me feel.
“Search my heart, make me clean…It’s your approval I long for…Rule my life, be my king…Do what you will I belong to you…I will find my hope in you…Hide my heart away…Fill me with your mind…Let the world forsake me…I will find my hope in you…you alone are Lord.”
Admit defeat, but don’t feel defeated.
We can apply this to so many areas of life. Relationships, jobs, hobbies, financial matters, or personal goals. We may need to admit defeat in the moment, but we don’t have to feel defeated. We can keep moving forward as we learn, grow, and practice.
It can even pertain to our faith. We might feel like we’ve failed spiritually on a given day, but we don’t have to feel defeated. Satan will jump on our sins and mistakes and accuse us of being worthless, but the Holy Spirit will lovingly convict us of our sins and help us move past them.
With his help, we can practice and get stronger and more consistent in our godliness. People around us will be able to see a wonderful change in us as we look more and more like Jesus.
Let’s all keep moving forward, even after we have to admit defeat in the moment.
Hopefully I won’t have to admit defeat again as I pick out something else to sing on Sunday morning.
“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” (1 Timothy 4:15 NIV)
Do you ever have to admit defeat? How can focusing on God help you keep going and accomplish your goal in his timing?