Surprising Oneself With the Possible

Writing in a diocesan bulletin a layman gives the readers an insight into his experience of doing something he never imagined possible and the results. He never paid much attention to what was happening within his church community. What happened outside his little world was of little concern and the choir of his parish was outside of his world. Musical knowledge was scant, a weak voice and no interest, but this past summer he became a member of the church choir.

The choir leader asked him to become a member. They were preparing for a public performance and seeing their zeal he joined with the proviso it would be for three months. He could barely read the score and didn't think he would be any help but an obstacle.  Only one of the songs that he would be practicing was in anyway familiar and he was given the tenor part.

At the first practice and for the following two weeks he didn't even once look at the score. Since he promised, he attended all the practices but continued wondering whether giving up wasn't the best course of action. However, as he continued strangely the tunes  of the music stayed  with him and he was humming the music. The devotion of the music director and president  impressed him greatly. He gave full attention to the choir and practice.

A big change came over him. He began practicing the score, doing what the director suggested at the last practice and practicing in his home, confidence came. The score stayed with him even after practice, and he  looked forward to the next practice.

They say that applause makes  elephants dance and so also the public performance made the choir dance. Everything went well and was appreciated by all. Able to be a help to the choir gave him a feeling of satisfaction.

The writer began to wonder about his judgments that he has made in life. He thought that he knew himself but  recognized that many of the choices he has made were not wise decisions. After the  choir experience  he realized that he had limited his area of activity with out reason by his preconceived wrong judgements and prejudices.

He doesn't know what the future holds in store but the areas in which he has little confidence will no longer be off limit. He will not avoid them as in the past.  He now looks forward to developing his potentials which have been hidden; he wants to regain control of himself and not be controlled by his self imposed unreasonable limitation. The summer experience with the choir made him see life in a different way.