Blessings Blog

Tonight I am thankful for the message at the Mustard Seed service: joy. It can be a little hard to find when you have to burrow your head into 12 layers of clothing and shuffle between buildings in this wave of extreme winter with a windchill of something like -40 (Fahrenheit...) and little sun. My friends on campus said it was a timely message, and in my own life, I have been discovering I have needed to work a little harder to fill myself up to be able to access that true, fundamental joy.

One of the revelations I have had recently is that I simply need more sleep. I learned in college that I functioned well and productively on six hours if I got a twenty-minute power nap during the day, but lately I have not been taking care of myself well on that simple measure of admitting to myself that during the winter I just need more sleep to be at tip-top brain productivity. And as I have been in a little bit of a funk lately, not getting as much of the work writing I have wanted to get done, I have also been lax on the little things that I know reconnect me with God and help me channel that joy and get me jazzed about getting things done - things I know have a beautiful end result, but the process is the mental hurdle.

And as I have been feeling just depleted lately, focusing an entire hour of energy on songs and verses and prayer directed towards joy, that was just what I needed. Not to mention so many hugs, so many hugs. And perfect words from a friend who I rarely have the opportunity to stand next to in Mustard Seed: "It may be a little cheesy, but sometimes God has to empty you in order to fill you up again."

Here is my own cheesiness: if you walk through the valley, there is a mountain somewhere! In the meantime, the bad stuff may not go away as soon as you would like, or maybe not at all, but you can control how you react to it. Maybe you need alone time, maybe you need music, maybe you need hugs, whatever works for you to not avoid it but to walk through it. And God is there to walk with you. Pretty cool, right? You can access the Spirit within you, and if you are struggling, there are people out there who would jump at the chance to lift you up again!

When the Mustard Seed leaders encouraged us all to take a few minutes to pray and listen to what God could tell you about joy, this is what came to me: Dance like David. Let the Spirit move you. That could have helped me today with my Zumba class because I perhaps saved choreographing a few songs until later than I was comfortable with, so in the class I was probably concentrating too hard on making sure I knew what I was doing. It is my job to be prepared, but I also have to be able to let it flow through me. I love to dance. I love to dance! And I want to share that love with others.

Every time I teach Zumba, I want to come into the class with that joy that overflows. I am not a natural extrovert, so keeping the class fun, being silly, and trying to be a positive force for motivation can feel like it requires extra energy beyond the natural high that dance brings me, especially when the weather outdoors does not really help anyone's mood indoors. But even though the class seemed a little more subdued today, my work was reaffirmed by several participants afterwards, including by a woman who was initially nervous about taking Zumba because she had not worked out seriously for twenty years and has never taken a dance class (just an aside, you do not need to know how to dance!). Walking out the door she said, "Zumba is basically the most fun thing you can do for a workout!" What a blessing it was to hear that. 

I will leave you with a final note about joy that is especially pertinent if you have been walking through a valley lately as well. This came to me yesterday in a Verse of the Day email, and before I fill myself with sleep, it is a blessing to review this verse: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance," James 1: 2-3.