Hot Tea and the Holy Spirit

Have you ever heard someone say that doing a certain thing would be like putting lipstick on a pig? It's a phrase we Southerners use to describe an action that is of little significance. You can put lipstick on a pig all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a pig. At the end of the day, that lipstick's gonna be all smudged off in the slop.  Matthew 7:6 conjures similar imagery: Do not give dogs what is sacred, do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. (NIV) Reading this verse, I often imagine the comical irony of a big 'ole potbelly pig sloshing and slurping up slop in lipstick, pearls, and sparkly stilettos.  However, while the imagery of the verse has always been good for a chuckle, wrestling with its meaning used to make my mind feel as messy as a pig sty, too.   In its context, the verse can read a little like an awkward and caustic non sequitur summing up a convicting...

Practice,  noun.     the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it. Practice,  verb.     perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain one's proficiency. -- Oxford Languages  "Practice makes perfect." I'm sure you've heard the phrase. To me it brings to mind the time I hid my piano books because I'd rather have watched tv or played outside than spent the afternoon working on chord progressions in the basement.  "Practice makes perfect," my mom would remind me. But I had better things to do.  "If practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, then why practice?" I was very proud of my response. Of course, I was the one who had asked for the piano in the first place, and I would have loved to perform flawlessly in the school talent shows like many of my friends. But I didn't want to put in the time.  My mom always reminded me...