Boring is the New 'Exciting'

While talking to a friend recently* (who will remain unnamed), I was just thinking about what makes people exciting.  It's not being able to change the world.  It's not being President of the United States or running some high-powered attorney firm.  It's doing the small things right that lead to the big things.  The things that really change a nation aren't always the things that stand out.  They're little things--like being dedicated to God, and to family, and to hard work.

The little things that are a part of good character and good relationships are also the building blocks of a strong church, a strong nation, and a better world.  Sometimes things that look boring on the surface are actually the most exciting in the long room.  It is possible to being both boring and exciting, so I am working to compile a list of some personal characteristics that are more advantageous than we might first think.  Please add your own ideas.

#1: Being willing to work hard until finishing a job rather than being sidetracked by the next shiny plan that comes along is valuable because it makes success achievable.

#2: Taking the responsibility of learning and growing for oneself rather than just expecting maturity to fall in one's lap is important because it speeds progress toward any charted goal.

#3: Learning how to really sacrifice for others that are close by rather than giving only when it is convenient and fun or only when it makes us look better to those outside our little circle enables us to make a difference locally as well as in countries around the world.

#4: Listening attentively is a skill much prized because it creates an environment suitable for growth.

#5: Being willing to sincerely apologize and quickly change when wrong removes many obstacles from the path to progress.

Don't worry if you feel boring or too normal because you do not have the noticeable talent of some others in your acquaintance.  Take responsibility.  Work hard.  Make small changes.  Some of the things that are not so glitzy at first--the things that take a lot of hard work rather than a little bit of talent--are the really important things that make the future look bright.  Maybe boring and exciting are synonyms after all.

See.  Boring things can be exciting!

*originally published at http://chooseyourchange.blogspot.com/2012/06/boring-and-exciting-synonyms.html on June 3, 2012.

Pianos with Personality

There is a vast difference between listening to a recording of piano music and listening to it played in person by someone you know.  Recordings seem dull and dead when you cannot see the person playing.

But in person you can see their expressions, hear the intonation and emphasis--see the pauses between songs and hear the progression of moods within their choices--learn something about the person from the style of songs they choose.  You can know whether they use sheet music or not, how often they touch a petal and with how great of force, whether they sing along as they play or listen in silence, whether they are still or if their movements are fluid or fidgety or energetic.

Look at him--personality!

While listening in person, it is no longer just piano music; the piano becomes the voice of a human soul, just as the body is its physical manifestation.

So What is Gumption?

When discussing important topics, it is easy to get on a roll and omit such mundane things as defining terms.  Yet it is the important things that really must be defined most carefully.

Gumption is one of those important things.

Everyone who has heard of gumption probably recognizes that it is good and necessary a good life.  But what is it?

Gumption is an attitude, a way of interacting with the events of life.

An online dictionary defines it as "enterprise, initiative."  But those words alone are not able to capture what gumption means in real life.  It means a sort of strength that is uncommon among the race of mere mortals--the mental and emotional strength to withstand difficulty, to weather all storms when in search of treasure, to know the right and pursue it ceaselessly.  Gumption requires one to fight for the good and the beautiful, to stand above the soiled mobs who fight for lesser things.

Gumption is higher and broader and--dare I say it?--more romantic than a materialistic enterprise or a self-centered initiative.  There is a glow of dignity and respect in voice when one says it.  Gumption.

A man by the name of Gumption stands at the front lines of any truly vital encounter with the Enemy, holding aloft an unsoiled flag, not to bring glory to himself, but to call others to the Cause.

Gumption is a necessary ingredient of strong Christian character.  What is the good of knowing the right if one does not also seek out that good thing and cherish it and defend it from harm and die for it, if need be?  Gumption is an attribute that needs an object, a goal, a purpose.  One cannot possess gumption without putting it to some good use, for then it would cease to be gumption.  For not only is gumption an attitude and an attribute, but it is also an active thing.

Hear the trumpet calling you to battle.
Know the truth.
Love justice.
Faithfully defend the right.
Men of gumption, go forth and conquer!