Ok, call me Queen of Random Blog Titles. Sorry ya'll, that's what happens when I start blogging at what... 12:22am on a late Friday night/early Saturday morning. :-)
This morning I was bemoaning my body's attempts to recover from what I've put it through this week. Getting out of bed is quite an ordeal! :-) And it makes my roommate laugh; she is starting to understand what it is like to room with a dancer!
In dance, we're learning a grueling dance that leaves us winded and sore each rehearsal. The choreographer warned us that we'd be sore, but I am discovering muscles that I thought my anatomy book made up! Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself--this insane rat race of wearing my body out and going to rehearsals that start at 9pm!
I'm a kinesiology major. Which means that I am always in at least one kinesiology class a semester--or working out to stay in shape for the next semester of graded physical activity classes. The rec center is my second home and my locker there has almost as many clothes as my closet. (OK, not quite, but you get the idea!) Why do I get up and run when it's 35* outside, why do I lift weights when it's such a pain to get a friend to go with me and spot me, why do I attend group excersize classes?
I am sitting here on my bed icing my knee after a rather nasty fall this evening. I was taking the stairs in the main campus library two at a time during a scavenger hunt with girls from Chara (the elevators were too slow... and everyone would know what floor I got off on), and missed a step. *OUCH*
What is the point of all of this? I think it comes down to priorities. I deal with the exhausted body from dance because I know that God is using Chara Christian Dance Company to bring His name glory on this campus and to work in our own lives. I work out "waaaay too much" (in a friend's words) because I want that kinesiology degree so that I can ultimately be a physical therapist in sub-Saharan Africa. I deal with my knee--and my own stupidity for taking the stairs too fast--because the camraderie I have with the Chara girls and the accountability we have is like nothing I've ever had before. And I can't imagine giving it up.
In light of eternity, in light of the rest of my life, in light of this semester, in light of the next moment, what are a few bruises and a few (quite a few!) sore muscles? It's a matter of what is important to me and what I am willing to put up with in order to achieve those goals. And to me it's worth it!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
This past week my dance company started learning a new piece to BarlowGirl's "Mirror." The 40 seconds or so that we have already learned have really hit home. Here are the lyrics:
Mirror mirror on the wall, have I got it?
'Cause mirror you've always told me..Who I am.
I'm finding it's not easy
To be perfect
So sorry, you won't define me
Sorry, you don't own me
Who are you to tell me
That I am less than what I should be?!
Who are you?
Who are you?
I don't need to listen to the list of things I should do
I won't try.
No no no, I won't try
Mirror I am seeing a new reflection
I'm looking into the eyes of Him who made me
And to Him I am beauty beyond compare
I know, He defines me.
Who are you to tell me
That I am less than what I should be?!
Who are you?
Who are you?
I don't need to listen to the list of things I should do
I won't try.
No no no, I won't try
I'm excited to see how the Lord will use this song... often times we think that our dances will minister only to the audience, but most often God wants to drive home the message first into our lives! There's something about hearing the song over and over for several weeks and learning how to make the words come alive in our dances. And every time that song plays in my iTunes I remember the dance (and sometimes find myself dancing to it!) and the message behind the song.
What makes this generation of young people (especially girls) so addicted to what the mirrors tell us? Why do we let our image define us? I think if we actually took the time to step away from the mirror we would find that there are others in our shoes who are judging themselves by us and our image... and where will the comparison ever stop! Maybe that is one reason why I am so excited to get this important message into the hands and hearts of my fellow Aggies!
Mirror mirror on the wall, have I got it?
'Cause mirror you've always told me..Who I am.
I'm finding it's not easy
To be perfect
So sorry, you won't define me
Sorry, you don't own me
Who are you to tell me
That I am less than what I should be?!
Who are you?
Who are you?
I don't need to listen to the list of things I should do
I won't try.
No no no, I won't try
Mirror I am seeing a new reflection
I'm looking into the eyes of Him who made me
And to Him I am beauty beyond compare
I know, He defines me.
Who are you to tell me
That I am less than what I should be?!
Who are you?
Who are you?
I don't need to listen to the list of things I should do
I won't try.
No no no, I won't try
I'm excited to see how the Lord will use this song... often times we think that our dances will minister only to the audience, but most often God wants to drive home the message first into our lives! There's something about hearing the song over and over for several weeks and learning how to make the words come alive in our dances. And every time that song plays in my iTunes I remember the dance (and sometimes find myself dancing to it!) and the message behind the song.
What makes this generation of young people (especially girls) so addicted to what the mirrors tell us? Why do we let our image define us? I think if we actually took the time to step away from the mirror we would find that there are others in our shoes who are judging themselves by us and our image... and where will the comparison ever stop! Maybe that is one reason why I am so excited to get this important message into the hands and hearts of my fellow Aggies!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Being dog-eared is a compliment!
Ok, so I have this book that a friend's mom gave me for my graduation that I absolutely fell in love with. I devoured the book, highlighting and underlining away, then passed it on to my brother, gave a copy to a friend, and then it sat on my bookshelf...until about a week ago.
So, the book is called, "Can You Hear Me?: Tuning In to the God Who Speaks" by Brad Jersak. It was such an encouragement to me the first time I read it, but I think I read it so quickly that I didn't fully absorb the message. So, in a desperate and frustrated mood as I was packing to head back to college I stuffed the book in a box, hoping I would find the time to re-read it and that I would find some hope that God had not utterly forsaken my pleas.
I'm only in the 2nd chapter and already I have seen/felt God teaching me. :-) Funny how that works! I've had some stuff on my mind recently that has been causing me no small deal of anxiety, yet I am reminded that the Lord is already talking to me--but my radio may not be dialed to the right frequency.
I think my relationship in hearing from God has been a little like a phone call to a friend where I spend the first half hour jabbering about my life and my experiences, then rush off just when my friend was getting around to telling me about her week. I think I've been doing too much talking and not enough listening! Has prayer become so routine that I am used to simply leaving messages on God's answering machine, hoping He'll get back to me when He has time? No wonder I am often bored. And is He saying, "You think You're bored?"
I love how the Holy Spirit will often point out "random" verses as I read the Bible. And I remember that the scriptures "are the words of a God who is so in love with His creatures that He has condescended to lisp as an infant in order to be understood in the confines of limited human language." But if the rich words of the Bible are just God's words being squished into some kind of written human language, imagine how astounding are the messages that He shows me in prayer--often times analogies and pictures that words can never express. Am I robbing myself of the best by always concentrating on what is written?
Well, my book is quickly becoming ragged as it travels in my backpack for those spare minutes before class, in the line for lunch, or as I workout on the treadmill at the rec center. But maybe being dog-eared isn't so bad!
So, the book is called, "Can You Hear Me?: Tuning In to the God Who Speaks" by Brad Jersak. It was such an encouragement to me the first time I read it, but I think I read it so quickly that I didn't fully absorb the message. So, in a desperate and frustrated mood as I was packing to head back to college I stuffed the book in a box, hoping I would find the time to re-read it and that I would find some hope that God had not utterly forsaken my pleas.
I'm only in the 2nd chapter and already I have seen/felt God teaching me. :-) Funny how that works! I've had some stuff on my mind recently that has been causing me no small deal of anxiety, yet I am reminded that the Lord is already talking to me--but my radio may not be dialed to the right frequency.
I think my relationship in hearing from God has been a little like a phone call to a friend where I spend the first half hour jabbering about my life and my experiences, then rush off just when my friend was getting around to telling me about her week. I think I've been doing too much talking and not enough listening! Has prayer become so routine that I am used to simply leaving messages on God's answering machine, hoping He'll get back to me when He has time? No wonder I am often bored. And is He saying, "You think You're bored?"
I love how the Holy Spirit will often point out "random" verses as I read the Bible. And I remember that the scriptures "are the words of a God who is so in love with His creatures that He has condescended to lisp as an infant in order to be understood in the confines of limited human language." But if the rich words of the Bible are just God's words being squished into some kind of written human language, imagine how astounding are the messages that He shows me in prayer--often times analogies and pictures that words can never express. Am I robbing myself of the best by always concentrating on what is written?
Well, my book is quickly becoming ragged as it travels in my backpack for those spare minutes before class, in the line for lunch, or as I workout on the treadmill at the rec center. But maybe being dog-eared isn't so bad!