It was a great tune playing and life was fun
Eyes shut, mind immersed in the beauty
Of that melodious harmony I eased into peace
At rest, enjoying the wondrous steps spontaneously
Emerging as my feet gave expression
To this surpassing joy within:
“What a tune!” I mused as I swayed, here and there
“What a life!” my heart whispered in quiet response
As I danced away until suddenly I jerked, paused
And wondered, “What was that! Why the change?
What for? What tune is that? What am I to do
With such a tune as this? How am I supposed
To dance to such a tune as this?
One of the key lessons I have learned is that we can choose our attitudes through the tunes that life plays for us. We decide our dancing styles. In fact, our attitude determines our dancing styles. When we consider the tunes miserable, it reflects in our dancing. When we consider the tunes amazing, it shows not only in the steps our feet adopt but also in the glow of our face, the swinging of our body, the ease with which we laugh at things that could make others lose it. The way we perceive the tunes influence how we dance.
I don’t know what tunes life is currently playing in your life but the choice is yours; to focus on the tunes and bemoan the terrible beats and depressing lyrics, to focus on you and how unfair your tunes are, to focus on others whose tunes sound better than yours, to really listen and try to make sense of the tunes so you can understand why it is being played and replayed in your life. Who knows, there may be blessings disguised behind seemingly terrible tunes.
In fact, when life throws in those terrible tunes, I have learned that God hides some funny and touching notes here and there to help us dance each tune the best we can. Life has played tunes of losses and gains, promotion and demotion, death and new life, sickness and loneliness, all manner of tunes for me and still is but every day I am learning, to dance better – learning how best to dance tunes I didn’t choose and can’t help, especially the ones that don’t make sense.
The Christmas before last, God had opened a wider door For ministry and I was deeply engrossed in the process in the early works. Evening of December 24, 2014, I needed to raise my head for fresh air so I drove to the nearest mall around the house to get my favorite ice cream. On my way back, I saw a lady carrying very heavy items on both hands and trying to pick a cab. I was about to drive by when I noticed that the discussion with the cab driver didn’t end agreeably. The cab was leaving without her. I stopped, called out to her and found out where she was headed. It was out of my way so I offered to take her to where she could easily pick up a cab. As she was getting in, the disappointed driver, who was waiting nearby to exploit her situation started cursing – I had got in the way of his business.
When I dropped off the girl, I was approached by a couple of women who claimed they were widows, visiting a benefactor that lived close by only to discover he just lost a family member. As a result, they couldn’t ask for what they had come for, not even their fare back to where they came from. They had spent their all to get there in hope of his assistance and were now stranded. I hadn’t much left on me so I gave them all that was left, and thereafter went home.
Next morning was Christmas. I packaged some food and handed my car key to someone who had received a call from colleagues, stranded on a worksite because their food suppliers were celebrating Christmas as well and didn’t show up. Hours later, the young man returned from a drive that should have taken 30 minutes – without my car. There had been an accident and my car was totalled. The young man had escaped without a scratch. My heart went to that car: it was the only one I had. How will I dance this strange tune in the coming days? Are you at a place where you are asking the same question?
Glory!