Dance With Me, Baby

"Magic.

Read this to yourself.  Read it silently.

Don't move your lips.  Don't make a sound.  

Listen to yourself.  Listen without hearing anything. 

What a wonderfully weird thing, huh?

NOW MAKE THIS PART LOUD!

SCREAM IT IN YOUR MIND!

DROWN EVERYTHING OUT.

Now, hear a whisper.  A tiny whisper.

Now, read this next line with your best crotchery-old-man voice:

'Hello there, sonny.  Does your town have a post office?'

Awesome!  Who was that?  Whose voice was that?

It sure wasn't yours! 

How do you do that?

How?!

Must be magic."

I've described about 400 things as being "interesting" in the last month or so.  Which basically translates to I've been thinking a lot.

Dance With Me, Baby by Ben Rector

When I was home for spring break, Madison, my almost four year old niece, asked me to have a "dance party" with her.  There was no music, the lights were on, and we were in pajamas.  But we danced.  And it was so, so fun.  

I think you can learn a lot about a person by their willingness to dance with you.  I'm nowhere near the world's best dancer, but some of the most fun I've ever had included dancing.  And I think that's a universal thing.  That's why we love parties and proms and wedding receptions.  And so many cultures can be defined by the way they dance.  

With that said and with my love for dancing, I think there are two types of people in the world: (1) those who will dance with you because you asked them to and (2) those that will refuse to dance with you because they don't dance.

Jesus has taught me a lot about the differences in these two types of people.  They're very different.  Type 1 will dance because you asked them to.  They value you.  They want to make you happy and though their terrible dance moves might make you sad, they're willing to try.  They care what you think and how you feel.  They desire to be close to you.  And though they aren't necessarily the best of dancers, they're willing to try because it's what you want.  And I think it really is as simple as that.  Type 2 is more complicated.  I think their opinions are a little more persuaded by the opinions of others, versus the opinion of you.  I think that when you genuinely care about a person, you'll do what you need to do to let them know that.  I don't necessarily believe that this type is the bad guy, but I do think that their desire to please you is a little lost and caught up in other things.

Maybe I'm reading too much into things?  Probably (DEFINITELY).  But I firmly believe this.  I really do.  And I think dancing is important.

It's very interesting (that word) to me how we have the power to be whoever we want to be.  We have a lot of power within us.  And we have power within us that can big time influence others.  Today, a little something happened, and when this little something happened, I felt some of my power start to slip.  I said "oh shoot", got a little panicky, and couldn't figure out how to react.  But you know what?  Someone only has power over you when you decide to let them.  Like the Magic poem, Bo Burnham used some power over you to help you to see magic.  And that was a good thing.  On the other hand, some people use their power to make you feel not-so-good.  But had you decided to not read the poem as Bo said or had you decided not to give that person not-so-good power over you, things would be totally different.  Life really is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.  And once we believe and accept that the power is ours, we're unstoppable.  The fear is gone and the dread is no longer because you have the power to choose how you react.

"Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul

instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers."

Spring Break was good.  Home was good.  Aiken was good.  Seeing family was really good.  Not having to think about homework or tests or midterms was REALLY good.  But I'm real happy to be back in Anderson.  There's only a little more than a month left (whut. whut. whut), so things are about to get a wee bit busy.  But I'm thankful for college and for an education.  It's hard to believe that I only have two years left.  Also hard to believe (and accept) that in 71 days, I'll be 20 years old.  

I'm excited for what's to come.  That's the first time in a long time that I've been able to say that and truly mean it.  And even when I said it at the start of the year, I wasn't as excited as I am now.  I'm excited for Jesus.  Actually, THRILLED for Jesus.  He does pretty big things with our lives when we give him the power to do so.

I'm thankful that I don't, won't, and can't have everything figured out.  I'm thankful that my job is just to trust Jesus and pursue Him in the good and in the bad.  Which, I totally admit and testify to, gets easier and easier when you choose to hear His voice over others.  The closer you seek to be to Him, the greater the benefit for you.  

Here's to life.  This is it and we choose to live it well (YES).  Here's to happiness and the pursuit of it.  

"At times, the world may seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but believe there is much more good in it than bad.  All you have to do is look hard enough, and what might seem like a series of unfortunate events may, in fact, be the first steps of a journey."

"Sometimes we need to stop analyzing the past, stop planning the future, stop figuring out precisely how we feel, stop deciding exactly what we want, and just see what happens."

Also, if you haven't read this, yes: This Woman Has Something Important To Say To You