Beginners

Have you ever watched babies learn to walk? It’s not smooth sailing. Those first steps are mixed with falling and crashing repeatedly. Watching this process is fascinating. Typically, there is a guide involved—a parent, sibling, nanny, or someone who is cheering the baby on. The first couple of steps are wobbly, uncertain, and off-balance. Down he goes! Now right here, at this very moment, the baby starts crawling like normal. Walking is hard, and crawling is fast and efficient. But the guide understands how wonderful life can be on two legs, so he gently stands the baby upright once more.

Try again.

Sure enough, the baby takes more wobbly steps. His face is beaming with each step. Then he falls (again!) and the whole pattern repeats. Again and again and again. Eventually, after many attempts and lots of falling, walking becomes easier. Hooray!! The baby is now a toddler, and his new world is marvelous.

Interestingly, something happens when we grow up. We decide that being a beginner is bad, something embarrassing to be avoided at all costs. So that’s what we do. We avoid being a beginner. We don’t try new things, or we pick something that hardly challenges us at all. We let the difficulty of a task become a reason to not do it.

It’s very boring.

At the end of 2020, we bought a boat. Although I had grown up boating with my family, I had never been an adult owner of a boat. I learned very quickly that I really knew nothing. We were ultimate beginners.

Nearly two years later and I still feel like a beginner. The lessons I am learning with each boating experience are piling up faster than the dishes on Thanksgiving. Some lessons are more expensive than others, but all of them are worthwhile. About a month ago, we got ourselves in quite a pickle.

It was the first trip out on the lake this summer. We were excited to be on the water again. Everyone was busy with life jackets and towels and all the things. Landon turned to me and asked,

“I found this bolt on the back of the boat. What is this? Do you think we need it?”

I barely glanced his way and told him I had no idea. I was sure it wasn’t important.

Beginner.

Brian backed the boat into the water and we were off. The water was a little cold, but we were committed. The kids jumped in and played. I had noticed a few error messages on the screen, which I completely ignored. I was sure it was nothing.

Beginner, anyone?

At this point, my daughter with diabetes got back into the boat and said her blood sugar was low. She drank her juice and lifted a floorboard to throw the garbage away. I looked down. The garbage can was floating! I quickly opened another compartment, and our boat was definitely filling with water. UGH!!

We immediately drove back to the boat ramp, waited for Brian to get the trailer, and then pulled the boat back out. Luckily, there were about four other groups of people on the ramp as well. They had first-row seats to our humiliation as the water poured out of our boat. The water kept coming for a LONG time. Sure enough, that bolt that Landon had found on the back of the boat was one of two plugs that we now make sure are in and secure beforehand.

Brian said to me, “We are definitely not boat people.”

I disagree.

I just think we are beginner boat people. And as novices, we are making a whole lot of mistakes. When so much about boating is new and unfamiliar, it all feels hard. Luckily, we have several guides who are helping—friends with boats, a man’s stranded boat rescue business, the mechanics who fix things and tell me what I should know, and even Google. 😜 So we keep taking that boat out. The failures aren’t reasons to quit… they are opportunities to learn. Believe me, we have become professional learners. Even feeling embarrassed isn’t enough to make us stop. Instead, I think it makes sense that we would feel embarrassed and frustrated and annoyed and nervous.

We are beginners now, but we won’t always be.

What about you? Are you allowing yourself to be a beginner? To fail and fall and learn? Do you give yourself grace when you mess things up (again!)? Are you using the newness of something as a reason to not try? Are you stuck crawling on the floor, feeling like it is as good as it gets? Do you have a guide who knows what a marvelous world is waiting for you? Someone who helps you stand and gently encourages you to try again?

If not, you may want to reconsider.

Your marvelous life is waiting for you.