Steps, Illustrating Love

Learning how to dance is lot like learning to live for Jesus. At our local dance studio, I watched from behind the huge observation window in the foyer as my four year-old daughter and her peers were trying to mimic their dance instructor, while learning a new tap or ballet step, but usually the first few attempts were not even close to what the teacher had demonstrated. As the students grew tired and or frustrated from not mimicking the introduced step, the teacher would encourage them with a cheerful voice, "You girls are doing great. Watch me, and let's try again," she'd say lovingly over and over again. Not surprisingly, when the girls focused on their teacher's movements and not one another's, their steps became more like the instructor's.

After introducing the step and rehearsing as a group, the teacher included one-on-ones. During such a session, the youngest girl grew tired and uninterested in the instructor's direction and attempted to lay down while the teacher held both of the little girl's hands. The girl just wanted to fall from a standing position. She leaned back with all her might and wined, "Let go of me!" The instructor kindly asked her to stand back up several times without changing the inflection or tone of her voice, but the young girl desperately wanted the teacher to let go. Determined to do what she wanted, the little girl became dead weight in the instructor's hands. After the leader decided that the girl was not going to stand up or obey her direction, she patiently said, "Okay, I'm going to let go of you, but sit up so you don't hit your head when I let go." The instructor did not let go of the girl's writhing hands until the child sat up on her own; thus, prevented her from falling, and hitting her head hard on the floor.

Then, after she finished the one-on-ones, she came back and asked if everything was okay, and told the girl, who had now calmed down, that they were going to do something she knew how to do and was good at doing. I was impressed how she let the child have her way briefly, but regained her interest as soon as the child began calming down.

Amazes me how many times we see the Father's love illustrated and demonstrated through people in our life, and how the illustrations reveal relevant teachings.