Developing a New Default Mode

We know the old joke; how do you get to Carnegie Hall? “Practice! Practice! Practice!” But, of course, it is only partially a joke. Because the truth is, if one wants to be a performer who would merit playing in Carnegie Hall, one must “Practice! Practice! Practice!”

Those who have learned to play a musical instrument know this to be true. If you want to be good at the guitar, you must spend hours going over the fundamentals of finger placement. Mandolin player Sierra Hull recounts the struggles that she went through as a child thinking that she would never learn to play four fingered G chords. But now, she says, those come naturally. In fact, what she says is “I can do it now, but I almost don’t even choose to”. – See the interview with Sarah here.

She has practiced the four finger G chord so much that her fingers move there without her even having to think about it. It’s muscle memory. It is muscle memory that has come through multiple repetitions of putting her fingers in a particular place. At first it was difficult to stretch them that way. Her fingers didn’t naturally go that way. And no doubt she had to look to see where to place her fingers. But slowly, given enough time and practice, her fingers naturally go there. It is as though it is their default mode.

The application to spiritual formation is, I hope, obvious. If we are to move out of the default mode of the self and into the default mode of the image of Christ, much practice is needed. For those who are just beginning, it will seem odd and very discouraging. This is because they are beginning to have their lives shaped into ways that they don’t naturally go. It takes much attention to the fundamentals of the faith.

Those who have been walking this path for a while no longer struggle with some of those fundamentals. They have a different challenge entirely. Theirs is the challenge of any musician. There is a difference between learning to play an instrument and learning to play it well. Those who learn to play it well are never satisfied with learning a few chords and playing a few songs. They want to excel.

Those of us who have been following Christ for a while are sometimes content with simply learning a few chords and playing a few songs. We adhere to some fundamental doctrines of the faith, engage in whatever rituals we have been taught, hold to some basic moral ideas, and show up for worship services. In other words, we are piano players content to play Chopsticks when our exemplar is to play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5.

But for those who recognize that the goal is to imitate Christ, Chopsticks will simply not do. And so they practice. They practice the spiritual disciplines that help them to develop a new default mode. They practice prayer and silence and solitude. They practice self-denial and humility and patience. They “Practice! Practice! Practice!” And after a while, when someone asks how they can do what they do, they reply “I almost don’t choose to”.

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