As in, "Can we watch Adventure's of Elmo in Grouchland again, for the 264th consecutive day?"
It's a great movie as far as two-year-olds go, I guess. And the first couple times I actually enjoyed it myself. But after watching it every day (and sometimes, twice) it has gotten a little stale, a little predictable.
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| It ends the same way, every time. |
But Cassandra is fascinated by it. It holds her intrigue that it may be that this time Elmo fails in his quest. That the world as we know it will end. That evil might just triumph over good this time.
Its not that she doesn't know the plot, she tells us about it constantly. It's not that anything new happens. It's just a pure fascination.
And I'm jealous. I want my life to be full of fascination - especially in the things I do every day. I want washing dishes to be filled with purpose and wonder (ain't gonna happen) and I want joy to over flow in the midst of the humdrum work day.
And I really want the fascination, the expectation of the marvelous every time I walk into church or open my Bible. Most times its there. Most days I look forward to spending my quiet time with Jesus and then celebrating in church on Sundays. But I would be lying to you if I said that I had the same enthusiasm as my daughter shows for a muppet.
So how do we, you and I, get to that point of joy and fascination? Well It comes through one of my least favorite words - discipline.
We must work our way into the feeling of joy and fascination. We put all this energy into establishing a habit but once that habit is set we then become free to enjoy the habit.
When I played basketball I worked so very hard and practiced hours every day. I was creating muscle memory so that when the games - the real fun - started I could enjoy the sport without worrying or laboring in the process of dribbling a ball or shooting a free-throw.
The practice, though mundane and repetitive, became joy.
I suppose that is the only way to be fascinated over and over again.
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