We live the life we repeat

As guest Sunday pianist at the local nursing home, I play from the hymnal the home uses for their services instead of my church hymnal. This morning, I stumbled and fumbled my way through the familiar Christmas carol "O Come All Ye Faithful." Though I've played that song for 40 years, in this new hymnal, the song was written in the key of D instead of my familiar key of C. It wasn't that the song was difficult with two sharps, but my brain kept trying to play what I had practiced all those years instead of what was being asked of me today.

We're like that, you and I. We become what we practice.

We echo the attitude we surround ourselves with. We live the life we repeat. We do what we've learned to do. And, we do it over and over and over again.

A young states attorney cautioned a group of fifth graders to watch who they hung out with, telling them we become like the people we surround ourselves with the most.

Their bad behavior soon becomes our bad behavior. It becomes normal. It becomes practiced. It becomes a song in the key of C, the song our brain automatically tries to play.

The young volleyball team has a bad habit. The girls tend to match the level of play of the team they’re playing.

That’s good when they’re playing a good team. The intensity of the play makes them play better. They feed off the good plays of the other team, and, in turn, make good plays themselves.

But, that’s bad when they play a poor team. They become lazy with the slower pace, dulled into a haphazard and sloppy style which has cost them games.

We all adapt the habits of the people we are around the most.

Oh, and yes, for the second morning service, I took out my own hymnal and played the song my brain wanted to play because whether in the key of C or the key of D, "O Come All Ye Faithful" is a song of praise heard best when the right notes are played.