There’s no better time to set new goals than a brand new year. There’s also no better time to check in on the ones you already set. Midterm grades are posted, and there’s just one semester left in the path toward academic goals. Recital choreography and progress reports are just around the corner, right alongside auditions and application deadlines.
As we slowly settle back into the groove of routine this week, we’re already inundated with all the world’s noise as advertisement after advertisement pops up with the latest products and programs that promise to be the key to unlocking our resolutions. But whether you’re entering the new year with motivation or frustration, it’s important to remember that we’re not running this race alone—and believe me, this second semester always does feel like a race to the finish line. No matter your goals, as a studio this month, we’re learning to place those God-sized goals at His feet. This month, we’re kicking off 2025 by studying how to magnify Him through surrender.
Surrender. Easier said than done, right? When life as we know it seems to turn page after page, right down to the calendar year, it’s hard to let go of what we know and what seems to be working for us. We often cling tightly to what we think is right, or the path we think is the quickest or best. But even in the midst of change, the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever. New year, new me—same God. The goals you’ve set for yourself this year? He knows them deeply. The challenges you’re staring down? He’s facing them right alongside you, the same way He stood with David to face Goliath. Now it’s up to us to surrender our goals and our plans to Him as we dance with abandon the same way David did in this month’s studio verse:
“David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the horn.” — 2 Samuel 6:14-15
There’s a lot to that word: Surrender. It’s not giving up. It’s not making a calculated sacrifice. It is, as the dictionary defines it, ceasing resistance to power, or submitting to authority. When David took up the Ark in his own way in 1 Chronicles, by his own rules, along the path he thought best, the Lord quickly made His power known. But when David surrendered his own will to the Lord, he gave Him authority over his life. He asked God for guidance and direction, and took up the Ark again according to God’s own instruction. And when he did, the people experienced joy, celebration, and God’s favor. You see, when we seek first His counsel, we are surrendering our plans to His, making way for great joy. American poet and writer Jackie Hill Perry said it best when she said, “There is nothing in your hands God won’t replace with more of Himself.”
So what are you letting go of this year? Is it clinging to casting and roles or class placement as your only means of measuring growth or success? Is it your own timeline of advancement, comparing yourself to others in class or rehearsal, or measuring up to business models that aren’t yours? Maybe you’re not where you want to be just yet—or at least not where you saw yourself entering 2025 at the beginning of 2024. But in moments of frustration, you can choose to cling to the ideals of your own making and sit with the enemy in defeat, or you can surrender to the Lord in victory. As we do, our letting go is replaced by His lifting up. We humble ourselves before Him, and place our hearts at His feet the way David showed humility and took up the Ark once again. We’re not giving up. We’re giving everything to Him. We’re allowing His will to be magnified above our own. We’re making Him easier for others to see, because there’s no way we could walk this path on our own.
As for our 2025 goals? We’re uniting hearts and turning eyes to the Lord as we build up leaders, provide excellence in dance and theater instruction, cultivate hearts of worship, and nurture each student’s creativity. Whether you’re joining us for the first time this semester (your last day to register is January 31!) or you’ve been a part of our studio family for the last 20 years, we’re here to help you go beyond technique to develop important life skills, like learning to be respectful and confident as you share the Lord through His gifts and talents in the community and beyond. This year, we invite you to know Him more deeply as you dive deeper in developing your technique and performance skills. We invite you to stay connected through our weekly emails, monthly newsletters, social media and right here on the blog. We invite you to experience the Turning Pointe difference in 2025!