Jesus aside, nobody’s perfect. As dancers, we’re well aware of this. Then again, if we could do everything on the first try, we wouldn’t be in class, right? Everyone fails. ALL fall short (Romans 3:23), and this time of year, it’s easy to be discouraged. Holiday music is starting to play and Peek Week program preparation is underway, reminding us that the school year session’s halfway point looms just ahead after Christmas break. Maybe your classes aren’t what you expected. Maybe you’re still working on the same things as last year’s class, or haven’t moved far away from the barre. But the important thing we take away from each class isn’t always the repertoire or repetition, but rather how we learn to handle our steps, both in dance and in life. As we enter November, let’s turn our attention away from the things that are happening around us and the things we can’t control, and instead focus on this month’s devotional word: How we RESPOND.
Did you know it takes 66 days of consistent persistence for a new habit to take root in our brains? Or that studies show that bad habits don’t ever disappear, they’re just overpowered by new ones? How is your brain programmed to respond to adversity? How about peace? How do you respond to others? How do you respond to your thoughts? More importantly, who programmed that response? And how does God respond to you?
There’s a lot we could dig into here, so let’s narrow it down. Even though visions of sugarplums have entered the chat, this month has another focus highlighted in this month’s verse:
I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
— Psalm 9:1
God gave us thankful hearts. In fact, the word “thank” (and variations of the same) is used at least 139 times in the Bible, most often with the thanks being directed to God. We’re called to be slow to anger. We’re called to be peacemakers. We’re called to give thanks. With this in mind, we encourage you to explore our word and verse this month—Lets let God reprogram our response and make a habit of gratitude.
Let’s say you’ve been working on your flexibility all year, but you’re still not all the way down in your splits. How do you respond? Maybe you’re not comfortable with double turns, but now there’s one in your Christmas dance. Or you’re comfortable with triple turns, but the rest of the class isn’t quite there, so your teacher choreographed a single pirouette. What if a classmate is distracting you or coming to chat when you should be listening to the teacher, or you’ve gone to five different stores in search of all the fixings for the perfect Thanksgiving feast, but no one seems to have what you need. How do you respond? Do you act on stress, exhaustion, disappointment, anger, or even jealousy?
We started the year talking about making a habit of prayer. How’s that going? It can help you here. Rather than responding the way we’ve programmed ourselves, we can respond by giving our hearts to God. Thank Him for goals and the opportunity to work toward them. Thank Him for the chance to challenge yourself in a new way. Thank Him for His grace toward you and for the example He’s set for responding to others.
Want to go a step farther? How do you respond to God’s presence in your life? How do you respond when He speaks to you? How do you respond when you can’t hear His voice? Again, a lot we could dive into here, but there’s an easy way to narrow the focus. It’s right there in the second half of this month’s verse: “I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” It’s pretty simple, really. When someone does something for us, we thank them. When someone goes above and beyond, we tell other people about it. God has gone above and beyond for us. What has He done in your life? How did you respond? Give thanks to the Lord with all your heart, and tell of all His wonderful deeds.