Thinking.

Who thinks too much? Yeah. I am typically not one of you. I make things simple, easy. Life is not complicated unless you make it that way. Life can be simple -- that does not mean boring - -but it does not have to be hard to understand, ALL of the time. Yes I know there are things that throw us for a loop. Trust me, I am there. But a way that makes things simple is faith. My God is good. My Savior is loving. My Creator is in control. I am okay. I tend to not over think things... then I also tend not to think things through. Yes. I ended up in Mexico for a month on a whim and I walked cross country for 9 days with thousands of women... (odd little adventure of mine). But the point is. I just jumped into that. I did not ponder, nor mull over this -- I had the opportunity. Why Not?

Why not? I say that maybe a bit to often.


So now that I have confessed the faults to my last of contemplation I would now like to expound upon its virtues. Thinking too much can get you in a much trouble as not thinking enough. Not jumping may be safer, but how many times do you think yourself out of an adventure?

Let me illustrate with dancing.

Recently I have been learning dance from an AMAZING teacher. I want to be a good dancer -- so I've got to work at it. And this teacher has pointed out many many many many many things I do not do right and things I should be doing that I simply don't do because I didn't know I should. And when I do these things right. WOW! It feels SO good when you do it right. And with his pointers I seen even MORE things I need to work on....

Before I just danced. I just did what I could and had fun doing it. It was simple. It was easy. But I would NEVER trade what I have learned over though experience and teaching for anything.

But I do get myself into a wee bit of trouble. Now I have SO much to think about! And I try to think about it all at once. I want SO badly to do it right. I want to be a good follow, I want to be a good student. i want to make my teacher proud -- but what happens when I think so much?

When I think so much I don't dance. I'm just going through the motions of dance. I am not DANCING. There is a difference. Dancing is natural, making my body obey my mind is not. Dancing flows through the music, through the leader, through the follow-- there can't be a buffer in the brain. YES every thing I learn I put into my dancing, but it cannot be my conscious effort all the time. There is no freedom there. No dancing. No fun. So as I learn more and more and more. I have to learn to BE not to do.

As with the Walk of a Believer, we ARE we don't DO. What I mean is, I do not think a true follow of the Messiah should have to try very hard to be a witness to those around him or her. It is not a conscious effort -- it is who you are, what you are. In Romans 8 it talks about the Spirit being life -- that life flows through us, we shouldn't have to force it out. WHO you are dictates what you do. Following Christ is not something we try very hard to force ourselves to do. We do not learn his laws and rules and ideas and try very hard to squish ourselves into them. Jesus changes who we are-- we strive for his likeness with whole hearts. This is not an easy thing, but yet, it is a state of being-- not doing.

Being a dancer is not knowing what you should do and how you should hold your body. It is moving. It is WHAT you are not what you do.