Reason #535
Almost every single Sunday it happens. I fall victim to the Sunday afternoon nap, sleeping as if I haven't slept it weeks. And even though I only slept for an hour and half yesterday afternoon, I wasn't tired last night. Sometimes living with Aaron is like a slumber party. We stay up way too late talking at night, and so midnight came and midnight went, and I finally turned out the light and fell asleep. The mornings come early when the nights are late, and today wore me out. I came home and had zero energy or desire to cook and then clean dishes, so bagel sandwiches it was. We hardly ever watch TV anymore, and there isn't anything worth watching during the summer, but nothing sound more appealing than an evening resting on the couch. I watched some Ninja Warrior show and made it through half of a wilderness survival show before I fell asleep. Needless to say, I've expended little to no energy tonight, and obviously my brain power is low.
Last night I mentioned something about taking dance lessons as a child, so tonight I'm going to borrow that idea and write about it. I started dance when I was in first grade. I remember the first time I went to dance class. I took my tights and leotard to school to change before lessons, and my friend's mom dropped me off. I had never danced before, so this whole thing was a new learning experience for me, outfit and all. My mom picked me up only to find me dressed with my tights over the outside of my leotard. No one bothered to tell me they went underneath. Oh well, you can get away with silly stuff like that when you're 6. Anyway, that was the last time I did that. I had a really amazing dance teacher, Ms. Brenda. She was so poised and pretty and had a beautiful figure. She was graceful, as dancers should be and I remember the way she walked, perfect posture and light steps.
Dance lessons always started when school did and went through the year until May, when we had our recital. There was only one dance studio in the town where I grew up, so recitals were a big deal. Everyone in the town came to watch. The middle school auditorium was packed. And so all year long we would work on our routine. Ms. Brenda would choose a song for us in August, and for the next 9 months we would learn the choreography. She made up all the steps, she planned out who would stand where, she chose the music, and she picked our costumes. Of course, she had a lot of students, so she did this for each class. Before she ever taught us the dance, she knew what we were going to be learning and what it would like when we finished. Of course, there were moves we didn't know so she'd take the time to teach us those first before we got to that part in the routine. And so we would work on it one section at a time until we had it down perfectly, keeping in mind that on Memorial Day weekend, we would be performing it in front of a crowd. We would show them exactly what she had taught us and what we had been working diligently on for those 9 months.
I always remember the nervous feelings that accompanied recitals. I am a perfectionist, and if I am going to do something in front of someone, I want it to be flawless. I never minded being in front of a crowd, truthfully I enjoyed it, but I still got butterflies in my stomach. However, each year, with each performance, it got better. And even if we did have a little mis-hap, no one really ever noticed. The crowd still clapped for us, and our parents still gave us flowers. And in the end, after it was over, we all realized how much we enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to keep on going back to lessons until I was a sophomore in high school.
I thought about dance and about Ms. Brenda and how much this is like our walk with Christ. Because the Lord knows what we are to do. Long before we were born, He crafted the plan of salvation. He came up with the whole idea of forgiveness, and redemption, and love. He knew all along what it was supposed to look like in the end and so He began to teach us. He began to show us how to do these very things. How to be kind and forgiving, patient and loving. He made His plan known bit by bit, and revealed it to us as we could understand it. And there comes a time in life, after we've been learning and practicing and growing, that it's time to show what we've learned. It's time to pass it on, too. Because the purpose of learning is not to keep information to yourself. The purpose of learning is to share what you know, and the majority of the time we share it through our actions.
You see, God doesn't ask us to make this stuff up as we go just as Ms. Brenda didn't either. She asked us to watch her and to learn from her. She asked us to listen and to remember what we were taught. And in the end, it was up to us. We were the ones who decided if we were going to be good students and actually perform in the recital, or if we were going to give up early on. God does the same thing. All we have to do is watch, listen, learn and remember. And when the time comes, be faithful to share it. He's gone before us and done all of the work, so it's up to us to decide what we're going to do with it.
#535 - Because He's done the work for us, we just have to listen, learn, and share it.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come." - Luke 4:18-19
Last night I mentioned something about taking dance lessons as a child, so tonight I'm going to borrow that idea and write about it. I started dance when I was in first grade. I remember the first time I went to dance class. I took my tights and leotard to school to change before lessons, and my friend's mom dropped me off. I had never danced before, so this whole thing was a new learning experience for me, outfit and all. My mom picked me up only to find me dressed with my tights over the outside of my leotard. No one bothered to tell me they went underneath. Oh well, you can get away with silly stuff like that when you're 6. Anyway, that was the last time I did that. I had a really amazing dance teacher, Ms. Brenda. She was so poised and pretty and had a beautiful figure. She was graceful, as dancers should be and I remember the way she walked, perfect posture and light steps.
Dance lessons always started when school did and went through the year until May, when we had our recital. There was only one dance studio in the town where I grew up, so recitals were a big deal. Everyone in the town came to watch. The middle school auditorium was packed. And so all year long we would work on our routine. Ms. Brenda would choose a song for us in August, and for the next 9 months we would learn the choreography. She made up all the steps, she planned out who would stand where, she chose the music, and she picked our costumes. Of course, she had a lot of students, so she did this for each class. Before she ever taught us the dance, she knew what we were going to be learning and what it would like when we finished. Of course, there were moves we didn't know so she'd take the time to teach us those first before we got to that part in the routine. And so we would work on it one section at a time until we had it down perfectly, keeping in mind that on Memorial Day weekend, we would be performing it in front of a crowd. We would show them exactly what she had taught us and what we had been working diligently on for those 9 months.
I always remember the nervous feelings that accompanied recitals. I am a perfectionist, and if I am going to do something in front of someone, I want it to be flawless. I never minded being in front of a crowd, truthfully I enjoyed it, but I still got butterflies in my stomach. However, each year, with each performance, it got better. And even if we did have a little mis-hap, no one really ever noticed. The crowd still clapped for us, and our parents still gave us flowers. And in the end, after it was over, we all realized how much we enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to keep on going back to lessons until I was a sophomore in high school.
I thought about dance and about Ms. Brenda and how much this is like our walk with Christ. Because the Lord knows what we are to do. Long before we were born, He crafted the plan of salvation. He came up with the whole idea of forgiveness, and redemption, and love. He knew all along what it was supposed to look like in the end and so He began to teach us. He began to show us how to do these very things. How to be kind and forgiving, patient and loving. He made His plan known bit by bit, and revealed it to us as we could understand it. And there comes a time in life, after we've been learning and practicing and growing, that it's time to show what we've learned. It's time to pass it on, too. Because the purpose of learning is not to keep information to yourself. The purpose of learning is to share what you know, and the majority of the time we share it through our actions.
You see, God doesn't ask us to make this stuff up as we go just as Ms. Brenda didn't either. She asked us to watch her and to learn from her. She asked us to listen and to remember what we were taught. And in the end, it was up to us. We were the ones who decided if we were going to be good students and actually perform in the recital, or if we were going to give up early on. God does the same thing. All we have to do is watch, listen, learn and remember. And when the time comes, be faithful to share it. He's gone before us and done all of the work, so it's up to us to decide what we're going to do with it.
#535 - Because He's done the work for us, we just have to listen, learn, and share it.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come." - Luke 4:18-19