Following The Crowd

The other day I was driving to school with my children and we were talking about "having a sense of urgency" when getting ready for school. I'ts something they lack and need to find quickly, before their mom and dad go insane pushing them through the morning routine. My oldest stated that she just didn't think it was right that she had to figure this out when those around her ( in her mind) didn't have this same worry. I had a light bulb moment in my teaching, no doubt it wasn't mine because for me when the Lord is stepping in and helping that's how it goes, a stroke of genius in the middle of now where. A thought or memory that I normally couldn't pull up in my normal course of thinking.

I have a sweet friend who I love and met while we lived in Utah. I was called as the ward organist at the time and struggling with my timing in the songs. She shared with me her own struggle and some advice. Its been a long time, but I will tell you the important parts. She was going to BYU and involved in the music program and she was asked to play the organ for the BYU devotional. Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with this, BYU is a religious school and so they have devotionals once a month. They hold them in the Marriott Center where the collage team plays basketball, so the place is HUGE and these devotionals have several thousands in attendance. She was nervous, but confident in her abilities.  She practiced a lot and was ready to go. She said its started well and she felt good, but she realized that the congregation was singing slower then her. So the next verse she slowed down a bit, and still they were slower, so the NEXT verse she slowed down again but still the congregation was slower. I don't know how long the song was but by the end the song was draggggiiiinnnnngggg. She was embarrassed to realize that SHE was the one who needed to set the tempo for the crowd, not the other way around. She said and I will never forget, " don't follow the congregation, they will always slow you down."

And so it is with life, if we follow what we perceive others to be doing around us, we will always be slowed down. We have to be the tempo keeper of our own lives.

So this is the talk my sweet children got. Be you, be in control of you, don't look to the crowd for direction because the crowd will always be slower then you need them to be- if you want to be successful in life.