One Measure at a Time

I spent most of a student's lesson today on one measure - just eight little notes.  There was a dotted quarter note in the melody, and the student was very frustrated trying to practice it at home.  He couldn't practice it at home - he didn't know how to play the timing.  We had encountered the dotted q. a few times before, but against the left hand, it just wasn't making sense.  So we counted and played slowly and counted some more and repeated it and tried it all again.  By the end of the lesson, the student wanted to practice some more.  What seemed impossible became easy in just a few minutes.  It doesn't always happen in just a few minutes, but this can apply to so many struggles we encounter in life if we just spend some time and patience working it out!