Get Down On It!

Let God arise,
         Let His enemies be scattered;
         Let those also who hate Him flee before Him.
 As smoke is driven away,
         So drive them away;
         As wax melts before the fire,
         So let the wicked perish at the presence of God. Psalm 68:1-2

Today’s Reading: Psalms 68-69; Romans 8:1-21

This reminds me of this praise song that I have on my ipod. It is called Psalm 68 (Let our God Arise).

It is a pretty powerful song.

But I didn’t always like gospel music. I actually didn’t really dig it at all. I remember being at church and seeing all of them folk hootin’ and hollerin’, dancing in the isles, slapping tambourines on their thighs and wondering… are these people crazy?

Can’t they just relax and clap along?

But as I got older I started to understand it more. I saw that they were freely expressing what they felt. During those moments of musical merriment they let themselves be free, and moved according to the beat of the music and their spirit.

I was never that dude. “It just wasn’t my style” is what I said to myself as I tapped my foot to the beat but refused to do anything more.

Do you remember going to your first junior high dance? I remember how it was for me. I was super shy. We all were. I remember being in the cafeteria turned discothèque like it was yesterday.

On one side of the room were the boys, and on the other side were the girls. The middle was wide open but no one was dancing all the while some of the best early nineties top forty blared from the speakers.

Where was I you might wonder? You know I was one of them wallflowers just like everyone else. I desperately wanted to be the guy who wasn’t afraid to walk across the dancefloor, grab the hand of the baddest girl and start cutting a rug. But nope, I, like the rest of the fellas, was too shy for all of that. So I waited sheepishly for someone else to make the bold move.

Finally it happened. One brave fellow walked over and then another and another. Finally I was starting to muster up the courage to go over there and low and behold all of the girls that I liked were already taken!

Drats.

That was one of the many times that I learned an important lesson. Sometimes we gotta get out of our own heads and live in the present.

 Nowadays things are different for me. I’m starting to learn the value of being free in the present. It is such a wonderful way to live life. And living it is exactly what is happening. When we stand on the sidelines of life, wondering what people will think of us, those same people are in the game having a great time living it up to the fullest.

And just when we get the courage to get in the game time is up, the game is over; the opportunity has passed you by.

Now when I experience something that inspires me, like the praise song above, I do my best to allow myself to be free in the moment. I’ve found that my greatest flashes of inspiration have come from these moments where I have overcome fear and chosen to be 100% me.

So next time you are presented with a wallflower moment try to muster up the courage to get your back up off the wall.

You never know, your life might totally change if you take the chance.