WHO ARE YOU DANCING/LIVING FOR?

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

Psalm 16:8

If I could go back in time in my dancing career and give myself a sit-on-the-bench, take-a-break-for-some-perspective kind of pep talk this is what I would say loud and clear:

Dance/live for an audience of One.

So much easier said than done! So many times in my dancing career, I got caught up in comparing my dancing abilities to other dancers, worrying about what my director thought of me, worrying about what the prima ballerina of our company thought about me, worrying about how my body looked….uggggggg.

It’s normal though. These thoughts come from our very human nature. We are oh so human sometimes. I would encourage my younger self:

Seriously dance like nobody’s watching.

Be you. Don’t be anybody else because that’s all God wants from you.

Don’t try to mold into being like any other dancer.

Don’t worry what people think of your dancing, what you’re wearing, or anything…be free and dance.

Uh oh. I realize that even now, even though I’m a mom of three kiddos, and I turn 36…today!… even though I am “grown up” and have fifteen years of professional dancing under my belt, even though I am venturing out into new adventures like writing and speaking, I still have to remind myself over and over and over…

Dance/live/write/speak/parent/love for an audience of One.

What if we did that? What if we really, really did that? How do we put that into practice? I think it comes down to a few things:

FOCUS

PRAYER

RE-FOCUS

Let’s break each one down.

When we keep our FOCUS on the Lord by staying in His Word, spending time with Him, and sitting still in His presence, He rewires our perspective, reminds us of His truths, and sets our hearts straight.

When we make PRAYER our priority, running to God when thoughts of what others think of us come tumbling in, He answers and He will help us when we feel unable.

RE-FOCUS. Keeping our focus right, remembering to dance/live for an audience of One, takes practice. We will have to catch our thoughts. We will have to redirect our thoughts. The Holy Spirit helps us. We can ask Him to help us re-focus.

So today, if you find yourself caught up in worrying about what others are thinking…park your heart right on a bench and let Jesus set your heart right again. He just wants you to dance/live for His eyes only. How freeing that sounds! Sign me up!