Muscle Memory

I have recently begun to fulfill a lifelong dream of studying the martial arts on an official level. No more practicing Chuck Norris round-house kicks that I saw on T.V. in front of the mirror and and no more conversations with the guys where I talk about fighting as if I have actually had any kind of experience...I am now officially going to a martial arts school (http://www.thetrainingedge.com/) to learn from highly qualified teachers and I am loving every minute of it.

The particular form of martial arts that I am studying is more of a self-defense style. It is built on the concept of reacting and counteracting an other's aggression and because the whole premise of this style is reactive, one's response must be completely reflexive and mindless. In other words, your response absolutely has to be built into muscle memory and the instructor's have clearly demonstrated that the only way to build anything into muscle memory is repetition....a ridiculous amount of repetition.

Through the process of building muscle memory in the martial arts, I have begin to realize that that whole concept translates into so many other facets of life. Greatness in any area of life comes through the mundane repetition of rehearsal. Great musicians have spent countless hours rehearsing scales so that they have built into their muscle memory an expansive vocabulary of note possibilities that allow them to react to any musical situation. Great authors have spent hours writing stories, songs, commentaries, etc. that no one will never read because those unpublicized efforts are the road to writing the great efforts worthy of publication. Great actors have spent countless hours doing acting exercises and watching each and every facial expression in the mirror to see what it communicates verses what they intend to communicate so that when they are on the stage or screen, they don't even have to think about whether the face is communicating accurately because they know that they have spent the time necessary to master each and every expression.

I think the concept of muscle memory also translates to the christian life. So often, I think we as believers just assume that we are going to react in just the right way at the right time knowing exactly what to say. We daydream about how we would share Jesus with the masses with our best Billy Graham altar call and yet we can't even invite our neighbor to church because we're afraid that they might not invite us to the neighbor hood parties anymore. As husbands we like to think that we would ride in on a shiny white horse to give our lives to save our bride and yet we can't get off the couch and help her clean the kitchen and get the kids to bed. Even as I have begun to get more serious about scripture memory, I have found that the only way to memorize God's word is through the monotonous drudgery of handwriting verses over and over again.

When I think about the necessity of muscle memory in my life, I have both an anxious and hopeful reaction. I am anxious because I realize that none of the things that I daydream about will ever just "happen". The greatness of my reaction will be determined by what I am doing today.

But I am also hopeful because I realize that anyone can be great. There is no magic formula. Greatness can be achieved by anyone who is willing to submit to the process of mundane repetition and daily exercise in the little things. It's really just that easy. And who knows, maybe someday we might actually get to live out the daydream of rescuing our wife from bad guys with our sweet chuck norris moves, while quoting an entire chapter of the book of John....now that would be awesome.