Daily Lesson for February 11, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Mark 10 verses 14 and 15:

“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask first, "When did you stop dancing?"

Ask any group of three year olds if they dance and every child does. But ask the same group of kids 10 years later and maybe only one comes up.  Why?  Because somewhere along the way in our growing up, the absolute joy of life gets stolen by comparison, put down, and a need to protect ourselves from a sense of inadequacy.

I can remember when I stopped dancing. In 6th grade my home room teacher asked me to jitterbug with her as part of a school wide program. It was all a surprise, as we both came out of the crowd. So kids kept asking me beforehand why I was dressed like James Dean, with a white t-shirt and blue jeans rolled up. As I entered into the gym and set in the crowd waiting for my moment to be called on stage, I suddenly hated the fact that I'd said yes. I wanted to run away and climb in a hole. When our time to dance came, I felt a thousand eyes on me -- all in judgment.  I couldn't dance. And I wouldn't dance. Never again.

The kingdom of God is about learning to dance again.  It is about entering into the great hall called Pure Joy, and in spite of whatever sense of judgement might be in others or inadequacy might be in us, going ahead and getting out there on the stage and jitterbugging -- and loving it.

And  whether we're any good or not really doesn't matter because we've became a child again; and every child dances.