My Space

     Do you remember the scene in Dirty Dancing where Johnny tells Baby, "This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don't go into yours, you don't go into mine.", as he forms the boundaries of space between their frames for her first dance lesson? Dancers are a group of individuals that are very territorial when it comes to our "space". Whether it's a vast space or a tight one, we all mark ours on stage or in classroom.

     Space is a valuable possession to a dancer, it's in our space that we take lines and angles and call them moves, and we permeate through our spaces to express the moves. Silently. It's our place. Our realm. Our space.

     This notion is not just practiced by dancers, I've seen this in church pew all the way to friendships. We all know somebody that got ruffled because someone sat in their pew or someone horned in and took a friend away. I think we all have infringement issues. I think we all have it branded in our genetic codes to be mindful of our spaces.

     Two-year-olds know the word "mine" fairly early in their learning to communicate stage. The deed to my house is very specific as to where my property starts and stops. God even zoned off areas for the Twelve Tribes of Israel to live to be their inheritance. Allotted space is clearly understood between humans as well as the animal kingdom.

     I know which is my house, my car, my clothes, my children, my husband, my money. You know yours. I don't dance in your space and you don't dance in my space. Simply understood, right? Yet, we as Christians are very ignorant of our spaces and the immense deception when it comes to the enemy of our territory. He is a 'space invader' in the truest sense of the word.


     Adam and Eve had their space invaded. We're talking authority here. Their realm of authority. Eden was their given realm of authority. When Sly Snake slithered into their space they had complete rights to say, "This is my dance space, and not yours. Out!" But they didn't do it, they got caught up in thoughts thinking God was withholding them from being like Him. This was majorly not even so. So began the plan to get our space back to us, legally. Enter Jesus.

    
     Easter is the hallmark celebration for those of us that call ourselves Christ-i-ans. If not for Easter, there is no need for our faith at all. Easter was the complete fulfillment of the plan to get our space back. Eden was supposed to expand to cover the earth (read The Eden Atmosphere, July 26, 2010). Because of the completed work of Jesus, Eden has now been placed inside of us instead of being a physical location.


     That's MY space. Mr. Slick is not welcome into it. He usually does not try the garden gate, he creatively camouflages himself in my realm and tries to make me think it's me thinking those thoughts. That it's me that wants to be angry or resentful. That it is my personality to get aggravated or frustrated. Or that it's just natural for me to get into fear and worry, anxiety and stress. After all, all of that is just common to humans. The only thing that we should be having in common is we should all stand squarely in our space and tell the snake in camo that he is to exit our jurisdiction. There is no...mi casa su casa.

     Anything that pertains to you, is your jurisdiction. Think of it. Name it. It's your arena. This is the birthright you've had purchased for you, thanks to the event of Easter. Signed. Sealed. Delivered. As Jesus was about to ascend into Heaven, He very clearly gave us back our rightful ownership. The devil may be the ruler of this world's system, but the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. My space is the fullness thereof.
     

It's All In The Shoes

     It's Nutcracker season! I have on my Alabama Ballet Nutcracker sweatshirt as I sit and write. I have seen a bazillion performances of all kinds of the Nutcracker. I've even have had some of my own students in professional company performances. Makes mama proud!
     Each dance company has their own take on the story of Clara and her night of Christmas magic, but the same theme is repeated no matter how the story is told. Clara is given a special gift (the Nutcracker) and there is an enemy (the Mouse King and his cohort) that tries to take it from her.
     The problem is solved very early in the ballet, in fact it is solved even before intermission and Clara goes on to experience a wonderfully, beautiful time of fantasy and the dance. Do you remember how she stops her menacing enemy that threatens to take away her prized possession?  She threw her shoes at her enemy. Off goes the problem from wince he came.
     I had a similar situation happen to me about 15 years ago. Hold on to your religious shoes. I had been going through a time of really pressing in to go further with my relationship with God. I had gotten very desperate for more of Him. I had some "prized possessions" that I knew God had given me and I needed to move from where I was to where I needed to be in order to use them.
     So, I'm at a revival. I had been attending it all week long. It was the last night of the revival and I felt I had not gotten what I wanted. My enemy, whom I am terribly ignorant of at times, was tussling with me not to go beyond where I was. It was during the altar call, I was standing up front near the side of the church. I knew what God wanted me to do but the voice of fear had me scared to obey God, that should of been a good indication to make me push on through, BUT...me and my mind mumbled, and muttered, and spit, and sputtered, and rocked and reeled. It was odd what God had told me to do.
     My mind said, "This is so dumb", "You'll look ridiculous, "No one has ever done anything like this before...in a church", "You'll be escorted out", "What has this got to do with getting closer with God", I asked. Here's what happened. I felt impressed to slip my shoes off and place them on the floor next to my feet, yes...in church. I told you it was odd. The second I got my first shoe in my hand God said, "Throw it." My brain had a meltdown, you could see it coming out of my ears. I knew in that very instant that if I didn't do it right then that I was going to put myself in the very center of my enemy's perfect place for me and THAT was not an option. So....I reared back and with stupid all over me, I threw my shoe clean to the back of the church and the second one followed shortly afterwards. I have not been the same since that day.
     All I can say is the veil that had kept He and I separate was torn in two that night. My enemy scampered off and I fell deeply in love with my God and His Word. Does God always ask you to do such dramatic things, no, no He doesn't. Drastic times take drastic measures. Everyone has their own "story". This just happens to be mine. This is the way mine is told. You have yours. The common story line is this: you can have your enemy out of the picture way before intermission and you can go on and have a wonderfully, beautiful, unabandoned, unfettered relationship with your God. It just may be the shoes holding you back.