Happy Little Trees

These days when you scroll through social media you are bound to see “memes”, which are pictures with various captions that are meant to be funny, make a point, or share a quote. Some of them even seem to know what you watched on TV last, or what you had for dinner the night before.

Lately, my media feed is running a quote by artist/teacher Bob Ross. Bob states: “Talent is a pursued interest”. In other 

Tyler Renninger

words, anything you are willing to practice, you can do. The full quote is much funnier, with Ross saying: “That’s just baloney” to those who believe they don't have the talent to paint those “happy little trees”.

My point is, in both middle school and high school, I was told how good at math I was, but I really didn’t care about math that much. Music was my passion. However, when I auditioned for the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho, I didn’t make the cut. I had to enter without a declared major, take lessons from a graduate student, then audition again for the second semester. Along the way, I failed some of my core music classes, so I took them again. My saxophone professor made the comment that I showed I belonged by demonstrating my interest and persistence. I pursued my passion. I persisted even though it wasn’t easy and I achieved my goals.

Will I be as persistent when God calls me or is that desire and persistence God’s calling? Does God provide natural talent, or is it the desire to pursue an interest that drives me? I think it is both, a life full of drawing our own happy little trees.

​In His Name, Tyler