Daring to Dance

I love the saying, “Dance like no one is watching.”  And I recently had the opportunity to witness my six-year-old live it out.  We had a lunch for young families after church.  There was a stage, and background music playing.  Towards the end of the lunch, one of my friends whispered in my ear, “Check out Kenny’s dance moves!”  I turned around to see my oldest, introverted child break dancing on the stage!  He had some pretty sweet moves, and was totally unaware of his audience.  It brought a big smile to my face, and made my mommy heart happy that this boy was so comfortable in his own skin.  And then I heard the ticking of the clock and began to wonder how soon he would become self-conscious and want to blend in with the crowd (queue the crying and digging out of baby pictures:).

We all enter this world as uninhibited creatures.  Slowly, as time passes, we learn the norms of our culture and depending upon our personality follow or fight them with a passion.  Either way, we become conscious of how others view us.  Too often this gets in the way of being the person God created each of us to be, and it robs our world of so many simple acts of love and kindness.

A few weeks ago during preschool drop-off, there was a mom battling her two-year-old while holding a baby and trying to get her 4-year-old into school.  Her red face and the scary tone in her voice were tell-tale signs that it had been one of those mornings.  She managed to complete drop-off and was marching back to her car with her baby and screaming 2-year-old in a way that hit too close to home.  I wanted to walk over and give her a hug, or tell her that I would be praying for God to give her the patience she so desperately needed in that moment.  But my self-consciousness got the better of me.  Would she think I was weird?  Would she yell at me to mind my own business?  So I let the moment pass, and rather than providing her with verbal or physical encouragement, I sat in my car crying for all my similar moments and praying for this particular mom in her moment.  Don’t get me wrong, the prayer piece was nice and all.  But I felt a nudge by God to act, and I chose to ignore it. 

In that moment, I wished that I could be more like my 6-year-old.  He forgets to flush the toilet; he can’t perform more than a one-step instruction without getting distracted; he won’t wear anything but blue shirts and blue jeans, but he dances even when people are watching.  What a great way to live life!