This is not a very insightful piece of information as I think it is a fairly intuitive. However, it has been proven to be difficult, if not novel, in one major way - practice is always hard work. It is repetitious, sometimes boring, and almost always slow in progress. It can be monotonous, dull, and painstakingly tedious. It can also be wildly exciting and encouraging when some of the skills start to "click". But the best part of practice is that it doesn't take any particular skill to do it. It takes the attribute of hard work and effort - but that is it. Practicing is something that all of us can do because it is not a skill in and of itself.
The books I have read refer to a general timeframe that it takes to master something. 10,000 hours seems to be the bare minimum for mastery to occur. That is a whole lot of hours! I'm thinking that once a week for an hour is not going to cut it. Even once a week for 3 hours would take a painfully long time. By my calculations, practicing something for 3 hours per week, would allow you to master that thing in about 64 years. Yikes! Mastering something really does take some serious effort.
Not does practice take time, it also takes quality time. It doesn't count unless you are engaged in the activity. My basketball coach preached over and over that practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Unless one is focused on getting better during a practice session, the practice doesn't really count. So let's run some scenarios.
Lets say that someone has been a member of the church for their whole life and they have done the bare minimum of 3 hours of church each week. And lets pretend that they have been focused every week they go to church for the whole 3 hours (yeah right - I am teaching the 13 year olds and I would be thrilled if they were engaged for 15 minutes of the 3 hours.). We have already concluded that it would take them 64 years to master spiritual things.
So lets say they study and pray 30 minutes a day in addition to that 3 hours even though I highly doubt 1 year olds are studying and praying for 30 minutes a day - I am going to give it to them. Years to mastery = 30 years. My guess is most people don't average 30 minutes a day for 30 years straight, but what do I know.
Now for the depressing part. Just going to church and studying doesn't actually produce any particular skill. It gives us opportunity to feel the spirit, which is a skill. Feeling and recognizing the spirit certainly is something worth mastering. But what about the skill praying. In the bible dictionary it refers to prayer as a form of work. It truly is a skill all its own. does that mean it takes 10,000 hours of prayer to master it? Lets not forget that only focused prayers count - no vain repetitions please!
I think I have begun to see why we are taught to pray everyday, 3 times a day, not counting meals. It may seem tedious - but it would appear we need the practice. Learning to communicate with Heavenly Father has got to be one of the more important skills we can learn in this life and they only way to master it is to work at it.
I think I have begun to see why we are taught to pray everyday, 3 times a day, not counting meals. It may seem tedious - but it would appear we need the practice. Learning to communicate with Heavenly Father has got to be one of the more important skills we can learn in this life and they only way to master it is to work at it.
Some other spiritual skills that can only be obtained through practice might be:
- Faith
- Repentance
- Priesthood ordinance and blessings
- Gifts of the spirit
- Knowledge
- Compassion/Charity
- Bridling passions
- Being Cheerful
- Sacrifice
- And on and on . . .
I also think that the concept of spiritual practice gives even more credence to the masterful plan of sending out young missionaries to do the Lord's work. Lets say that a missionary gets 8 hours of good focused spiritual opportunity each day of their mission (I think estimating more then that is wishful thinking). Talk about a huge head start for life. In two years a good hard working missionary can get 6,000 hours towards their 10,000 needed. What a huge blessing a mission can be for the rest of ones life.
In Alma chapter 32, we see a perfect example of spiritual practice and mastery. We start small and practice until we eventually reach a perfect knowledge.
We are told in 2 Nephi that we learn " . . . line upon line, precept upon aprecept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn bwisdom; for unto him that creceiveth I will give dmore; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." Again - this is another example of how we have the ability to grow spiritually and it clearly states that we can obtain wisdom (truly a valuable skill). However, we must want and work for more or we can't ever master that skill. We need more practice!
Well - I had better be done for the day - I need to go and practice.
In Alma chapter 32, we see a perfect example of spiritual practice and mastery. We start small and practice until we eventually reach a perfect knowledge.
We are told in 2 Nephi that we learn " . . . line upon line, precept upon aprecept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn bwisdom; for unto him that creceiveth I will give dmore; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." Again - this is another example of how we have the ability to grow spiritually and it clearly states that we can obtain wisdom (truly a valuable skill). However, we must want and work for more or we can't ever master that skill. We need more practice!
Well - I had better be done for the day - I need to go and practice.
