I have a confession to make! I really heavily considered not posting this week! This week I just wasn't feeling it! Can anyone give me an "Amen," that February is the longest shortest month of the year?! Gosh! I've been waning on motivation and living intentionally every day that passes this month! All my heart wants is 80 degree days, sunsets at 9:30pm, and tank tops! I was wracking my brains and praying asking God to give me something to write about this week and NOTHING was coming. It was a blank page my friends. Ping pong balls and cobwebs inside my head as I sometimes like to say.
But still, I didn't want to give up on showing up and choosing to write on the days I feel like it and the days I don't. Although it is easier to write when inspired I have come to learn that if we are committed to something we have to treat it similar to a job. We have to push back against the resistance and show up on the days we feel like it and the days we are dragging our feet and uninspired!
So here we go! We're gonna talk about line dancing again. I know, you're probably thinking to yourself that all I talk about is horses, running, and dancing these days. That's probably because that is mostly what I talk about. They're very prevalent in my life and something I find easy to draw correlations to life with!
I've been line dancing for three months now. When I first started I didn't know a darn thing! I made sure to always show up for the hour lesson before they opened up the dance floor each week. I sought to learn as much as possible before stumbling around on the floor for a couple hours after the lesson. I'm sure it was very entertaining to watch me intently watch someone who knew what they were doing and copy them the best I could about three beats behind each step they were executing. I made a fool of myself, sure, but guess what?! I was having fun and learning.
In the last several weeks here a shift occurred. It used to be that I left the dance floor because my brain and my feet needed a little break from learning all the line dances. Yet as the weeks progressed a new song would come on and instead of leaving I would get excited because I had the line dance for it down by heart. Then another song would sound across the speakers and the same thing would happen again. Consistency and showing up were starting to pay off.
Last week we were line dancing to a song I knew by heart and out of old habit I looked at the person in the line in front of me to follow the pattern their feet were creating. It used to be this helped me to accurately execute a line dance, but now that I knew the dance it had the opposite effect. My feet started going to the wrong places and stepping on the wrong beat as I looked to the individual in front of me to guide me at something I already knew. It's like my feet were saying to me, "We know this. We got this. You just do you!" I intentionally took my eyes off the individual in front of me and focused on the truth that my feet and heart knew this line dance. Effortlessly the dance unfolded without a thought. I smiled inwardly. What an interesting thought! It immediately made me draw the comparison to the way we live life. There is a time and a place to take our cues from others as we learn and grow in a new situation or skill set, but there is a time and a place to know what we know and just do us!
I have a big struggle with people pleasing! It's something God is still working with me on. I'll be the first to admit that I'm that person that holds back when I spot that person who intimidates me or who I want to impress in the room. But just like dancing, when we have our eyes on that person and we are taking our cues from them it really messes things up! Our steps get all muddled and we don't just dance the way God intended for us to because we are letting someone else control our steps. We are our absolute best when we recognize that God is smiling at us saying, "You already know this. You just do you!" There is only One who we need to be pleasing, and because of the cross He is already pleased with us. Do you know what that means? It means we get to just dance. To love life, to give it our all, to be totally okay with us and get caught up in the moment instead of looking around to see who's watching!
I hope you'll join me in embracing exactly who it is God has created us to be! Of learning to not hold back, to not copy someone else's steps, but to simply dance the dance God intended for us to. Remember, the dance God has for you to dance is going to be specific to only you, and only me! Whoever it is that you are, this is a dance God has been teaching you over time. He's been showing you what needs to fall away, what steps are wrong, and what ones you have down perfectly! You know this, just do you!
Our PURPOSE is to please GOD, not PEOPLE. He alone examines the motives of our HEARTS.
1 Thessalonians 2:4b NLT (Emphasis added)
Galatians 1:10 NLT
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV
Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the LORD means safety.
Proverbs 29:25 NLT
But Peter and the apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than any human authority.
Acts: 5:29 NLT
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