Live It

All over the globe fall dance classes are getting back into the groove. Why? I don't understand it. Dance is a living art and should be continually studied. But the countless kids that take the summer off can really be a bummer even for the most inspiring of dance teachers. This is a huge trend in small town America...school in session, study dance...school out, no dance. That's an 8-10 week break, flexibility and strength, out the door. But let me tell you something else that is going on in small and big town America, people by the droves are taking summer off from where they study the art of life and living...the church. Again, flexibility and strength, out the door. Life is a living art and should be continually studied.

I teach my students an analogy about barre work and center work. I tell them that what they learn at the barre, the tips and techniques, the hard work and repetition, the growth and development, are to be taken from the barre and applied to the work that they do in the center and across the floor. Just like when you train in your faith, the pastors, the teachers, the leadership trains you in the church and then when you go out of the church into real life (the center) you apply your training there! You live it for everyone to see.

A teacher loves it when a dancer can correct themselves. The teacher sees something out of line and they call for a correction and the dancer looks into the mirror and sees the need to change and does it quickly. That is the mark of maturity. Not perfection, but maturity. That thrills an instructor! Teachability. For a dancer, the mirror is the place of checks and balances. For the Christian it is the Bible, we look in it as we train and continually correct and change and live it for all to see.

A dance class could very easily be compared to church. You dress appropriately for the situation. You speak with and mingle with others that have come for the same purpose. The music begins and an euphoric feeling comes...this why I dance..., there's a lot of talking and educating and reminders of what is right and good and useful for you and your life. There is a lot of praying and then you're released to the center (real life) and you go out and live it. Yes?

I've always had questions concerning people that call themselves dancers. You know the ones that come to class only once a week or miss class when other things take higher priority. They love the idea of being a dancer but do not want to do what it takes to be one. They want to attend class just enough to stay somewhat connected but its plain to see that their absence is weakening their commitment. They want to stay on roll but are not advancing in their training.
I've heard someone say that the growth of atheism was due to the fact that many Christians acknowledged God with their lips and lived before the world as an unbeliever and people frankly, found that to be unbelievable. Train at the barre...live it in the center.

Getting My Sugar Fix

I have a confession to make...sugar is my drug of choice. That's why I gave it up a week ago. I've tried before but it was not as easy as it was this particular week, I don't know why. Maybe it's because the date is fast approaching for our family vacation to Panama City Beach or I'm fed up with how it makes my body feel with the puffiness and joint stiffness. Being a dancer I really can tell how it slows me down and affects my flexibility, but yet I want more. Isn't that the way it is? The more I want, the more I want.


When does an addict say, "Today is the day that I have gotten all of the ___________(fill in addiction) that I will ever need."? I have noticed that it is our human nature to crave or desire things. Now, let me remind you that it does not particularly care if it is a positive or negative craving, it just craves something. Like...you decide to eat more fruit and stop eating the fake snacks, before long you'll find yourself at the roadside stand picking fat, juicy oranges and fantasizing about what you are going to do with them when you get home. Who has ever had to hide the peelings from an orange so your family won't know you just pigged out on one? Who has ever had to hide the wrappings from the chocolate snack cake from the quicky mart?

My husband and I were challenged once to see if we could only drink water and give up everything else. I promise you, within a couple of weeks we absolutely craved water and could not get enough. To this day I have only added back green tea and skim milk. That was ten years ago and I have not had a soda since. I have no desire for one. I once was addicted to a certain diet soda that is very high in caffeine (I didn't think that I was until I layed off of it for a few days
and got a major huge headache that went away within ten minutes after I drank the soda!)

I was addicted to nose spray (the 12 hour kind) for sixteen years. I would use it five or six times a day. My husband used to tease me about taking a "hit", I literally could not breathe without it, especially at night. But, when I did get through the rough period of about a month without it I now am nose spray "free".

See, good habits....bad habits, I've had to choose. Who do they affect? What do they affect? That's what I've had to ask myself...."is it worth it?". I found a scripture in Psalms 119:103 this week that says, "How sweet are Your words to my taste, yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth". I had an epiphany about my sugar addiction, I was giving the "fix" to my body repeatedly and not my spirit.

So, now I've decided I want to get my sugar "fix" from where the sugar flows, the kind of sugar that doesn't show, the kind that doesn't make me feel like a slug or grumpy after I've come off the "high" and I certainly don't have to hide it when I have it. It's a craving that's good for me and it won't make my knees and fingers feel puffy. It's the real sugar, the real sweet, what I crave. The more I want, the more I want.

Just like noses, we all have them ....opinions. These are my O's.