practice makes possible

Head down.  Knees bent.  But not too bent.  Shoulder in.  Bend at the waist.  Turn your hips.  Swing from your core.  Hands forward.  Slow back.  Slight pause.  Accelerate through.  Shift your weight.  Head down!

How can something so simple as hitting a ball with a club be so complicated?
I want to be a natural.  I want to swing the club effortlessly and tip my cap to the fans watching me on the tour.  But that won't happen.  At least not without a whole lot of practice.
Very rare is the "natural" anything.  We all have talents, but even the very gifted must be very practiced.  Musicians, athletes, artists, surgeons, and the list goes on.
You might have skill and you might have knowledge, but you have to practice both to succeed.  I don't care how many books the doctor has read, I don't want a tonsillectomy unless she's had practice actually removing tonsils.  A drummer knows how to use the sticks, but he won't perform on stage a song he's never played.
I know how to swing a golf club.  I've been told all the steps it takes to successful hit the ball down the fairway.  But that knowledge is useful unless I actually practice.  And it's in the practice where hitting the ball becomes possible.
The same is true for the rest of life.  I want to be a good wife, a good mom, a servant of others.  It takes more than just waking up and thinking those things.  I have to practice.  What do I need to practice today to be a better wife?  The laundry.  Fixing dinner on time.  To be a better mom?  Use detangler.  Be patient.  A better servant?  Return my grocery cart.  Open a door.  Take someone dinner.  Follow through on my promises.
If I try to run through the checklist when I'm at the ball, I'll fail.  I'll forget something crucial.  But if I focus on the details during my practice swing, I will train myself to perform like I practice.  Then I can relax and rely on my training to carry me through.  If I practice correctly, my head will naturally stay down.  My knees stay bent.  My shoulder will stay in.  I will swing back slowly and accelerate through.  My ball will go in the hole.  Hopefully.  Eventually.  That is the goal.
Practice doesn't make perfect.  Practice makes it possible to succeed.

peer pressure

There's a story about a king who stole his brother's wife and was offended when John the Baptist called him out.  But since he enjoyed listening to everything else the guy had to say, he spared John's life and only had him thrown in prison.  The king's wife, however, was not so quick to forgive.
On the king's birthday, his stepdaughter provided the entertainment and the king was so enchanted by her dancing that he swore to give her anything she asked for.  Now, if a king promised to grant me anything I wanted, I could probably be pressed to come up with a short wish list on my own.  But this chick, coached by her bitter mother, asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.  Really?  You could have anything you want and that's what you ask for?  Not a castle, a Ferrari, or weekend trip to France but rather a dead guy's head on plate?  Ewww, gross.
The king was distressed because he really liked the guy, but in order to protect his image in front of his dinner guests, he ordered the girl's request be granted.  John was beheaded and the platter was served to the girl, who I'm sure quickly handed it off to her mother.
So what's the point of this story?  To carry your Christmas list in your pocket so that if you happen to come across a genie in a bottle you'll know what to ask for instead of relying on your mom to come up with something for you?  Not really.  It is important to know what you want in life, but who are you allowing to influence those choices?
There is a Spanish saying that goes, "Dime con quien andas, y te dire quien eres."  Tell me who you walk with, and I will tell you who you are.
King Herod obviously could have used a few more good people to walk with.  Not only did his questionable choice of a wife lead him to kill possibly the only good influence in his life, but he also surrounded himself with party guests who would be more appalled by him breaking his word to answer an evil request than by him murdering an innocent man.
I believe that you should be friends with everyone.  I think we are here for a reason and one purpose is to touch the lives of those around us.  But are the people closest to you in your life helping you reach your highest potential or are they dragging you down?
I want to be a good person.  I want to be a great wife and an excellent mother.  I want to serve Christ by serving others.  I want to write with purpose and have influence enough to encourage people to do better things.  Am I asking the right people to speak into my life in order to make those things happen?
In order to be the person you want to be and to reach your goals in life, you need to surround yourself with people, songs, books and the like that will point you in the right direction and guide you along the way.
Find a mentor, join a support group, start a Bible study.  If you want to lose weight, don't join breakfast club at Denny's, go find friends to run with you.  If you want to write a novel, sign up for literature meetings at the library.  If you want to get out of debt, listen to Dave Ramsey.
A lot of things are out of our control, but we can choose to surround ourselves with people of good influence and put ourselves in situations that give us the best chance at success.

a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.

Do you ever feel like you missed your opportunity for success?  There was always that thing you were going to do, but something else got in the way.  Maybe you dropped out of college because you played too much ping pong and now you've been passed over for a promotion.  Maybe you missed the deadline for a contest and feel like that was going to be your big break.  Or maybe you put off calling a friend and now it's been 10 years since you've had a conversation.
Life is full of opportunities and the choice is yours to jump onboard or let it pass you by.  Some opportunities are worth missing but sometimes not taking a chance leads to regret and a bunch of "what ifs" and "if onlys."
What if the next time you see your grandparent you sit down and really listen to their story?  What if you apply for that job even if change is scary?  What if you try something new on the menu?  Pick a new vacation spot?  Sign up for aerobics class?  If it doesn't work out, at least you'll have a story to tell.
It's a new year.  Make the most of it by going with your instinct and making the most of every opportunity that comes your way.
You have a purpose in life that only you can fill and the only way to find it is to open a few doors and take a few chances.