Who Are You Dancing For?
If the world is your stage, who are you performing for?
I started a new book just a few minutes ago... The Divine Dance, by Shannon Kubiak. The turn of the first page brought me to tears. I hereby recommend it to any woman. I think it's intended for teenagers/young women. But it packs a powerful punch for all of us. I'll give you an excerpt here from the start of the book, pg. 11:
Setting The Stage:
In a busy, noisy world, a little girl walks onto a dark stage and begins to perform. She wears her pink princess costume with pride.
"Will you love me?" her actions ask. "Will you hold me; will you keep me close to your heart forever?"
The pain in her eyes screams at you. And with graceful pirouettes across the stage, she beckons you to choose her, to set her apart from the other performers, and to call her beloved. She has wounds buried so deeply beneath her costume that she has almost forgotten they are there. But the laughter of her audiences echoes through her mind as she thinks of all of the times she has tried and failed. All she has ever wanted is acceptance, but she has never found it--at least not for long.
Inside each of us is a desire to be loved, a desire to be chosen, and a desire to be called out of the crowd and loved for who we are. And seeking these desires, we all become performers, morphing ourselves into whatever role may earn us a place in the hearts of those around us. We constantly audition for affection, and once we have it, we feel we have attained perfection. We put all of our energy into our performances as we please our audiences however we can.
To become beautiful is the ogre's dream; to remain beautiful is the dream of the prom queen. But to be chosen is everyone's dream. What we fail to notice as we desperately dance is that One has never left His seat during our performance. Many audiences have come and gone, but this One, this Man, has sat there from day one and has never taken His eyes off the little girl in the pink princess dress. His eyes answer the questions her eyes ask; His heart satisfies the needs of her heart. If only that little girl would take the time to notice, if she would stop focusing on herself and what she has to do to be beautiful to the other audiences, she would see that she is already beautiful to this One. He has called her the beloved, and He is offering her an important role in His dance--the Divine Dance."
It was right where she spotlighted God, saying that One has never left His seat during our performance... that's what hit me so hard. That's what God has been trying to tell me, and I just haven't been listening. I've been too busy worrying about pleasing all the other people in my life. But that's not what I was created for. I spend my life trying to gain acceptance from and please other people... when I was created only to please God. As Shannon puts it in a phrase on page page 12: She has been missing the Divine Dance because she has been too busy dancing for men and princes to notice the King.
Ladies, I urge you to go find this book. I found it at Long's Christian Bookstore's Outlet. The paperback list price is $9... I think I got it for $3 or $4. I haven't even finished the introduction and I can say it's already worth it.
I'm gonna go read some more... I hope this touched some of you. And in the meantime, keep your eyes on the only audience that matters. Who are you performing for?
-Jack-
