Finishing the Turn

This weekend I found myself in a new role. Up in the North Carolina mountains, celebrating my stepson’s 15thbirthday, I suddenly became a ski instructor for one of the boys who had never skied before. We began with the pizza slice snowplow and then moved to leaning to the outside to make the skis turn to the inside. He was a quick study, and by the third run he was navigating his was down the mountain with relative ease. 

Excited by his progress, however, he began to rush things. He began a new turn before finishing the one he was in. The result always left him lying on the slope, covered with snow, wondering what went wrong. “Complete the turn before you begin another,” I called out over my shoulder. I soon realized I was one to talk, not in the way I ski, but in the way I live.

I once had a wonderful idea and put it into motion, but before it had time to find its way, I thought of something new which left me on the ground wondering what I had done wrong. I began a turn before finishing the first one. It’s happened with jobs, friendships, and even in my spiritual life, and it took my recent ski experience to help me see this habit.

I began the day as a teacher but drove home as the student. “Complete the turn before you begin another,” I whispered to myself. “Complete the turn before you begin another.”