Do great things.

I am going on a trip to India for 29 days with one of my very best friends. We are working in an orphanage... and we leave in 9 hours. Many people are praying for me and for God to move, and many other things (namely for my cold to subside) But a short conversation I had to night merited notation.

I dance, as you can probably tell, and tonight was my last dance for a month. A beloved friend walked me to my car and the conversation was light and happy as it normally is. But as he left me he said this, "Do great things in India."

My response was the programed response I have been giving to requests such as 'be careful', 'don't get sick', 'have fun' or 'come back safe!' my answer was, "I'll try." But as soon as that left my lips I knew that that statement was horribly wrong. Try to do great things. God doesn't do great things through people who are trying to do great things, he does great things through people who are willing to follow Him-- completely.

And yes, this dear friend said just that.

After my errant answer I said I would pray for GOD to do great things. Hence correcting the a fore mentioned "I'll try" But his answer was something like this, "All you have to do is obey." And with a grin he added, as any wonderful writer/musician/DANCER would say, "You just have to follow."

So, to quote the ever wise Yoda -- "There is no try. There is only do." but I say "There is no try there is only obedience."

I am terriable. He is able.

I love it when I get to dance with wonderful partners!

But what do I do? I am not a very good dancer and he is so good -- what do I do? there is no way I will ever be able to keep up with him. I'll mess up every cool thing he tries to do with me. He is wonderful -- I am not.

When I should be having a wonderful dance, instead I am thinking about how terrible I am. How I cannot do what he wants me to do. Then I am no longer enjoying the dance I am fretting about how I am not good enough. And I will with out a doubt mess up more than I would normally.

But if he is so good, why did he ask me to dance? Perhaps he is capable to leading, even leading me. Why would he want to dance with me? Maybe he knows that he is good enough to give me a good dance. Even if I am terrible, he is able. He knows what I can do, he knows what I do not know how to do... yet.

If I will trust him, he can do amazing things with me -- I just have to stop looking at my short comings. And I will get better the longer I dance with him. Dancing with him makes me a better dancer.

If I stare at my long list of inabilities it will never shorten, as much as I long to be a good dancer I will never become one if I do not dance with a lead that can challenge me, show me new things, and help me learn to overcome my fears and lack of ability.

Same with Christ -- He is the perfect lead. But we are not perfect follows. Even still He wants us to follow Him. Why? because He loves up and wants us to know Him and to learn how to follow Him. How to dance with Him. If we will surrender to His lead he will teach us how to follow. And the only way we learn, the only way we become better is not by striving to become the best -- not by fretting over each miss step or trying to perfect ourselves -- it by dancing with Him. Through the presence of God we are transformed into his image, not by our own practice.

But we must dance to become a dancer. You can practice alone all you want, but you will not be a dancer until your are DANCING.

Joy of dance.

A friend of mine asked today what is the difference between striving for righteousness and desiring righteousness and walking like Christ. In this statement "striving" is trying really really really hard to be righteous... And knowing me, my mind goes instantly to dancing.

So... Here is the picture.

While I am dancing there are things that I do wrong, things that I learned wrong, bad habits, poor posture and so on. Ironically the more I learn about dancing, the more I dance and as I get better... there are more things that I do wrong. The better I get the more I can see that I am doing wrong. When I first started dancing I would never have noticed that I shift my weight slightly backwards past my feet on a swingout. I never noticed that before.

Now the second part is I have a teacher who is also who I love to dance with the most, he is my most loved lead and he is telling me what I am doing wrong. He is making me a better dancer, showing me the little things and big things that I am not doing right.

Now with this introduction I have come to my point what is the difference between Trying really really hard, or abiding in Christ? In dance, when am I trying really really hard to do it right and when am I just trusting my lead?

Now when dancing with a lead that I trust and that challenges me, and especially when I'm dancing with my teacher, I have noted that if I begin to think about what I need to do, if I try really hard to do something right, I do not follow well. I mess up more. Why? Because I have taken my attention away from the one I am with. I am not focusing on HIM I am thinking about myself. Given, I am trying very hard to do what he has told me to do, but I can't DANCE while I am trying to make myself dance properly. If I just surrender my mind, body and heart to him and let him lead me we can be so beautiful. Will we be perfect? No. But will we enjoy the dance? Yes.

Now, do I leave my short coming unattended? By no means. 1st Cor 9:27 applies here. "But I discipline my body and keep it under control lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." I do indeed discipline my body and the most literal sense I practice, train, do everything I can to form the muscles and the muscle memory to be able to become a better dancer. I work very hard to fix my short comings and to get stronger. Why? So I can do everything right -- I would love to be a perfect dancer -- but no. I work so hard because I LOVE to dance. That is it, I love it and I want to be better at it. So am I 'striving for striving's sake? nope. I am disciplining my body and mind to dance and dance well because I love the dance and the one I am dancing with. My focus is not getting the moves right, or even doing the posture and frame right (which are very important) My focus is following him, being with being with him, my focus is HIM -- not myself.

My friend asked me after I gave a slightly shorter spill about dance, "What do you do when you mess up?"
My answer was, "We keep dancing. He is able to dance with me no matter how bad I am, he is that good." and after further contemplation -- He will catch me when I fall, help me back on track when I've missed a step. He isn't concerned with how good or bad I am he just wants to dance with me. yes he wants me to get better, but never at the sacrifice of the Joy of dance.

Which is better?

Which is better? To serve God or to know him? I would say that to Know God is eternal life. (John 17:3) and to serve him is only done (only done out of a right heart) if you KNOW him and LOVE him and your service is because you know and love him. Not the other way around, you do not love him because you serve Him. You serve him because you love Him.

This is not what I sat down to write... but it is what came out. And I like it.