Repetition is seen by most adults as an enemy; variety is the spice of life, we believe. We crave new experiences and rail against the everyday with its monotony and repetition. The French call it ‘metro, boulot, dodo’, the endless cycle of all work and no play, most of it involving repetition.
At the weekend, I listened to my son practise a new carol for our carol service. It has intricate piano solos in it, interesting chord formation, wonderful glissandos and great bluesy riffs. He listened to the song twice and started to play it.
He had to keep stopping, listening again, practising again and again. He had to remember what he heard and get his fingers to reproduce those notes and rhythms. An hour later, he was still there, repeating phrases, going over it again and again.
Is this kind of repetition boring? In many ways, yes. But it’s the only way to be able to play a tune. Practice (doing a thing repeatedly) is the only way we master any skill. Why else do we send our children to school, to swimming lessons, to dance lessons? We understand they have to do something over and over again in order to master it.
Last week I watched my granddaughter on ‘Purple Mash’, an interactive online educational programme which trains children in mathematical skills. She spent ages with moving fish, counting, adding and subtracting. The repetition of sums involving number bonds is what will improve her ability at mental maths. You have to do something often enough for it to become second nature. Practice really does make perfect!
Repetition in this sense is the pathway to perfection. In the same way, God wants us to consistently and repeatedly do what is right so that ultimately we become more like Him. Don’t despise the monotony of repetition; it’s actually good for us, training us to become more like God.
