I give my sister piano lessons every week.
The one skill I am try to teach her to learn is how to follow a metronome.
She has gotten pretty good at it she can stay on beat 50% of the time.
It was a ridiculously hard process to teach her to get to this point.
At first I just got her to listen, then to clap along with the beat and then to count while clapping. Finally I got her to start trying to play which turned out to be a complete mess initially. I learned that its easier for her to follow the example of my playing instead of throwing her out there trying to do it on her own from the start.
Eventually we got to the point where practice goes something like this:
*starts playing stays on beat for 2 bars then slows down
Me: No stop play it from the beginning
*does it again but this time speeds up
Me: from the beginning
*plays it again and again
Eventually it gets to the point where she knows when she is off
So I tell her "ok whenever you mess up just start all over from the beginning on your own"
Sometimes she just wants to follow her own beat because its so much easier
so she ignores the metronome and zones out. Thats when I own her and tell her to start concentrating again.
She needs to get to the point where she can internalize the beat in her head.
Isn't it like that with following Christ?
Christ is the only one who followed the beat 100% and never messed up. He's the example we need to follow.
How many times do we follow the beat for a few bars and then think we've done enough and start doing our own thing?
How many times do we speed up and try to do things by works and our own strength and then need to slow down?
How many many times do we slow down and expect Christ to do everything for us and need to be reminded to take up our cross?
and every time God disciplines us and tells us "NO do it again"
Eventually we get to the point where we know when were off and can start again by ourselves. We need to get the to the point where the Words of God are in our heart so that we can follow that beat even though there may different beats clicking at different paces around us.
